Danny in Star City
by WormmonABC
Summary: At a paranormalist convention in Star City, Virginia, Danny and Jazz get involved with people that are more than meets the eye. Yes, people, I'm back, and we've got more shocks than a barrel of monkeys.
1. Good News?

  
Hello one, and hello all! I'm back with my second Danny Phantom fanfic. This is my first story that I've planned on being multi-chaptered- no, I'm Going to Get Sued does _not_ count. Duh. Anywho, I'm seeing this as maybe a ten-chaptered thingymabobber, though who can tell?   
I must give thanks to my three betas- KimuraSato, Shadowesque13, and livingdead (who isn't on FFnet, I think). They looked through the first chapter and pointed out that I have created yet another masterpiece. Okay, they didn't exactly say that. I lied. So sue me. :P They helped out a lot, so I'll be introducing OFtR. This is short for "Other Fics to Read", which is short for "Other Fics to Read Instead of This One Because the Other Fics are a Gazillion Times Better". This chapter's OFtR is Yearbook Signing, a Danny Phantom fanfic by KimuraSato. It's at about 145 reviews- why not make her happy and help make it 146? Just to let ya'll know, the main pairing _is_ Danny/Dash, so don't come crying to me if you don't like that, m'kay?   
Without further ado, I present to you Danny in Star City.   
  
-------------  
  
Danny in Star City   
Chapter One: Great News?   
  
"Danny! I have some great news!"  
Danny Fenton knew that as soon as he heard those words come out of his father's mouth, he should have gotten as far away as possible.  
"What kind of news?" Danny asked, looking for possible escape routes. Front door? Already closed. His room? Too far away to make a run for it. He saw his mom sitting on the couch with a hesitant grin on her face; his sister, Jazz, was next to her, slumped down with arms crossed over her chest and not looking very happy.  
"Well, this, of course!" Jack Fenton said, sticking a flyer in his face. Danny took the piece of paper and skimmed it.  
"'Thirteenth Annual Paranormalists Convention'," Danny read aloud. "'Held in the Civic Center at Star City, Virginia from November 24 to November 25. Come meet with others in the field and discuss ghosts, werewolves, ESP, extraterrestrials, and..... Champ'? Who's Champ?"  
"American version of Nessie. Very hush-hush around here," Jack said furtively. "Anyway, your mother and I thought it would be a good idea-" At this point, Maddie Fenton made a small coughing noise at the back of her throat. "Okay, so _I_ thought that it would be a good idea for us to go to this convention over Thanksgivings break! What do you say?"  
"Well-"  
"Great! We're leaving first thing tomorrow!" Jack said.  
"But we have school tomorrow," Jazz pointed out.  
"Yeah, but we get out early, remember?" Danny said.  
"Shh! Dad doesn't have to know that!" Jazz hissed at him.  
"Perfect! We'll pick you up as soon as school's over!" said Jack.  
"Please, please, _please_ don't tell me that you're going to be driving the GAV," Jazz groaned.  
Jack blinked. "That's a great idea! The Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle hasn't been out in ages- this'll be a chance to try out the new-"  
"Oh, just forget it!" Jazz snapped. She stomped past Danny and Jack and headed up the stairs. They heard the door to her bedroom slam shut, as though daring someone to come after her.  
  
-------------  
  
"What's with Jazz?" Danny asked at dinner. His father had gone down to the lab to work on the newest Fenton invention and he was sitting at the table poking at the rest of his plate. Jazz hadn't come down from her room and Danny was beginning to get worried.  
Maddie sighed as she washed the dishes. "Your sister's just under a lot of stress at the moment."  
"Yeah, well so am I, but you don't see me slamming doors for no reason," Danny said, shrugging.  
"Please try to understand, Danny. There's been one project after another since Jasmine became a junior; she's been studying nonstop for weeks."  
"So? Just let her stay here and study, if she wants to," Danny said.  
"She needs to get out and relax," Maddie said. "She's been so uptight lately."  
"How can you tell?" Danny asked innocently.  
"Danny!"  
"Sorry, sorry. But I guess there's no way for us to get out of going to the convention, huh?"  
"Sorry, sweetie. Your father's set on going," Maddie said.  
Danny sighed. "What if I said I had plans with Tucker and Sam?"  
"Do you?"  
"That's not the point!" Danny said. "Jazz is probably upset because she had to cancel some plans with her girlfriends or something."  
"You may be right about that.... I haven't seen her friends around here for a while. They don't seem to like to hang out here." "  
"Imagine that," Danny said. His eyes traveled over the messy kitchen with varying types of ghost gadgets strewn everywhere. A loud _clunk_ and a stream of curses came up from the basement. Maddie turned towards her son. "Would you try to go talk to her? I don't think she'd listen to me or your father."  
"You really think that would help?" Danny asked. "I don't think she'd like me trying to psychoanalyze her."  
"Jasmine does it all the time to you," Maddie pointed out.  
Danny considered this for a moment and got up from the table. "Suddenly, I feel like checking up on my dear sister," he said, heading for the stairs.  
  
-------------  
  
Jazz was sulking silently on her bed. At first, she had felt like venting her emotions be screaming at the top of her lungs, but had decided that it would be less conspicuous to write it out instead. Her laptop sat in her lap, giving off a bright glow that illuminated the otherwise dark room. _  
They don't get it. They just don't get it. They think I'm mad because I'm being dragged off to another stupid ghost convention. And I am, because who would look forward to being around people who actually share the same interests as my parents? The last time I went to one of these conventions was a few years ago, before Danny's.... accident. And Danny's the reason we can't go! Sure, Mom and Dad are serious about their work, but these are_ real_ paranormalists. Who's to say one of their instruments wouldn't pick up Danny? And who's to say that they wouldn't try to hurt or capture him?   
I can't say anything, because Danny doesn't know that I know. At least, I'm pretty sure that he doesn't. I know Mom and Dad don't know, which is pretty ironic considering that they're the "ghost hunters". How can they not notice when part of Danny just disappears or that the ghost detectors only work when he's around?   
I know that I'm being over-protective about the convention thing, but I can't help it. I just don't want him to get hurt. _   
"Jazz?" There came a knock at her door.  
Jazz jumped and closed her laptop. "Who is it?" she called.  
"Me," Danny said, opening the door enough to poke his head into her room. "Can I come in?"  
"What if I said no?" Jazz asked.  
"Then I'd come in anyway."  
Sighing, Jazz said, "Fine, then. You can come in."  
Danny edged the door open further. "Are you sure you won't bite my head off?"  
"Are you coming in or not?" Jazz snapped.  
"Testy today, aren't we?" Danny said, grinning as he flopped on the foot of Jazz's bed. His grin faded as he saw his sister's face. "You okay? You look pretty tense."  
"It's nothing. I'm fine."  
Danny hesitated, and then said, "You know, I'm not exactly happy about going to the convention either, but you seem to be taking it pretty hard."  
"It's nothing, really. Only...." Jazz studied her brother for a moment and decided that he really wanted to listen. "Don't you ever wish that Mom and Dad weren't so weird all the time? That maybe you could have normal parents for once?"  
"Well, sometimes they do act a little strange, but- wait a minute! _This_ is what got you upset?" Danny asked and blinked. "What, did you just figure out our parents are crazy?"  
"Seriously, Danny. Doesn't it bother you to have two aloof ghostbusters for parents?"  
"Sometimes...." Danny squirmed a bit, a little uncomfortable with the question. He didn't let Jazz know just how much his parents' occupation bothered him at times. "Oh, come on, Jazz. Like anyone's parents are the definitions of 'normal'. Besides, you know they love us, right?"  
"Of course," Jazz said.  
"Then what's the problem?"   
"I don't know. I just have this bad feeling, that's all."  
"Honestly, sis, you worry too much." Danny tilted his head back and pointed. "You've got little white splotches on your ceiling, you know."  
"Those are from that marshmallow fight we had years ago, remember?" Jazz asked, also looking at the ceiling. "They stayed up there a pretty long time."  
"Mom got mad at you for that. Made you clean it up and everything," Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Anyway, it's just a little trip down south. It's just a bunch of boring old guys arguing over crop circles and Atlantis and junk; it'll take half an hour at the convention, tops. What's the worst that could happen?"  
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Jazz sighed.  
"Course I am. This is me you're talking to, remember?" Danny said. He got up and patted his sister on her head. "So no worries, eh?"  
Jazz smiled and gave Danny a hug. "You can be really sweet when you want to be," she said.  
"Ack! Girl cooties!" Danny said in mock horror. He hugged her back and then pulled away. "Okay, enough sibling bonding time. You should get some sleep- don't you have school tomorrow?"  
"So do you," Jazz pointed out.  
"Yeah, but I never pay attention anyway. I can get by sleeping in class. You, on the other hand, need to uphold the ridiculous tradition of geniuses in our family. G'night," he said, walking out of her room.  
"Good night, Danny," Jazz said as he closed the door.  



	2. Road Rage and Pizza

  
Ah.... so I see that you have all made it to the second chapter of Danny in Star City. Well, good for you! I worked very hard on this chapter, dontcha know. This chapter is, according to Microsoft Word, roughly 2,300 words minus the author's notes. The other chapter was what, 1,300? 1,400?   
Since you all are here, I will proceed to explain some things to you for no apparent reason other than boosting my word count. I'm trying to work on a "schedule" because I've never written a planned-out fic like this before. I write the chapter during the week in my notebook, then type it up- depending on how much I've written or how much I feel like procrastinating, I may not get a copy of the next chapter up on the computer until Friday. I try to aim for Wednesday, but you know how it is. Anywho, I send it off to my various betas (who rock, by the way) and make some revision. On Saturday, I post it up at the forums I like to haunt and see the reaction of the people there. Then I edit and do some other top-secret stuff and get it uploaded to FFnet on Monday.            
The bad thing is, right when I thought I got a nice routine worked out, it seems as though I will have to abandon it. This Wednesday, I will be going over to my friend's house to go on vacation with her to visit her grandparents in Tennessee. We're going to Dollywood- save me?            
There's a point, I swear. I will either be A) late in getting the third chapter up, or B) not getting it up next Monday _at all_. I will attempt to make up for this by either (Lord forbid) writing an über-long chapter or by posting two chapters at once.            
Anyway, to wrap up this almost-page-long author's note.... I'm gonna respond to reviews at the end of this chapter. Look for the George Lopez and the Barry Manilow references. This chapter's OFtR is When All Other Lights Go Out by the talented Rem-Chan. It falls under the Kingdom Hearts fandom and poses the question: what if Sora didn't regain his heart that time in Hollow Bastion? Anywho, I'm sure that most people won't have a clue what I'm talking about, so I'll just give you the fic now, shall I? Enjoy.  
  
-------------  
  
Danny in Star City  
Chapter Two: Road Rage and Pizza  
  
Jazz stared out of the window dejectedly. All she could see were dairy farms, grain silos, and the backdrop of the Appalachian Mountains; there hadn't been a change in scenery for who knows how long. She had never been more bored in her entire life, not even when she had to sit through her dad's lectures on the newest Fenton invention. Speaking of which....  
"I'm so excited about showing off all the newest Fenton inventions!" Jack said. "We've got the Fenton Boomerang, the Fenton Ghost Laser, and the Fenton Garbage Disposal!"  
"Don't you mean Ghost Disposal?" Danny asked.  
"No, you put the Fenton Garbage Disposal in the grease trap under your sink," Maddie explained.  
"I know I'm going to regret asking this, but _why_ do you put it under your sink?" Jazz asked.  
"I made it to catch the ectoplasmic material that Jack throws down there," Maddie said.  
"Hey, I'm a lot better with that now!" Jack protested. "Nowadays, I store that stuff away where no one can mess with it."  
"Jack, you put what doesn't fit down the sink in the shed in the back. _Anyone_ could mess with it."  
"....so?"  
Maddie sighed and kept driving. Earlier there had been some debate over who was going to man the Ghost Assault Vehicle, but Maddie had won out after Jack almost ran into the mailbox on their way out of the driveway.  
"Anyway, that's not all I'm bringing!" Jack announced.  
"Somehow, I didn't think so," Jazz groaned.  
"I brought the Fenton Thermos and the Ghost Weasel and the Ghost Gabber...."  
"Wasn't the Weasel in an explosion?" Jazz whispered to Danny.  
Danny didn't respond; instead, he swallowed nervously. "Um.... the Ghost Gabber's in the car?" he asked, keeping his voice down.  
"Yes, but the batteries are old. First thing we need to do when we get to Star City is recharge them," Jack said.  
Even though he looked slightly less anxious, Danny wasn't too happy with his dad's response. Jazz decided to intervene by saying, "Can we stop somewhere? I'm hungry."  
Maddie glanced at the clock, which read 5:00- they had been driving since noon. "We're almost there, Jasmine. They'll have food at the hotel."  
"They'd better," Jazz grumbled.  
  
-------------  
  
Years ago, explorers had come to what would be later known as southwestern Virginia via the Star River. They decided that this was as good a place as anywhere else in the Colonies and plopped themselves down. The name of the original city was Salt Lick- don't ask about this one, you don't want to know- but was quickly changed to Star City by popular demand. Actually, the townspeople threatened to form a mob, but that's delving too deep into history. Anywho, Star City prospered and was known as a nice city to live in- it wasn't too big like Washington and Richmond, or too small like Catawba and Buena Vista.  
Of course, neither Danny nor Jazz particularly cared about any of this information. Signs of civilization increased during the next twenty minutes, farms and tractors giving way to suburbs and automobiles. They passed by a Target, Best Buy, and a sprawling complex that Danny assumed was the mall. These were just the outskirts of the town, however; the hotel that the Fentons were staying at was nearer the downtown district of Star City.  
Maddie exited off the highway and drove on a small road to the downtown sector. Built slowly over the years, this part of the town blended old brownstone buildings with those made of metal and glass. Though the skyline of Star City wasn't world-famous, it did sport a few skyscrapers belonging to various banks and businesses.  
Since it was a city like any other, Star City was experiencing it's daily let's-get-the-heck-out-of-work automobile exodus. Since the drivers were.... well.... drivers like any others, they had crowded the streets to form a massive traffic jam. Since Maddie Fenton was a human like any other, she had vices that did not usually pop up under normal circumstances.  
A loud, annoyingly-long beep filled the air. "Get off the road, if you can't drive! I've got the right of way, you jerk! Where'd you get your license, the Goodwill?"  
They included being highly susceptible to frequent bouts of road rage.  
"Mom! Calm down, the hotel's just a few blocks away!" Jazz said.  
"We're gonna die..... we're gonna die....." Danny repeated to himself as Maddie made a possibly-illegal U-turn into coming traffic.  
"Hm.... I just now remembered why we don't let your mother drive," Jack said.  
  
-------------  
  
Several minutes and a few rude hand gestures from her fellow drivers later, Maddie Fenton pulled the GAV up to the Hotel Star City. Everyone piled out of the car, glad to be on solid ground and away from Maddie's driving for the time being.  
"Wow. It's really...." Danny tried to come up with an appropriate adjective to describe the hotel. "....big." He failed miserably.  
"Since its opening in 1882, Hotel Star City has become famed throughout the country," Jazz said. "Its rich heritage has given it a place on the National Register of Historic Places."  
Danny blinked. "How'd you know that?" he asked.  
"It's right over there," Jazz said, pointing to a bronze plaque with _The History of Hotel Star City_ engraved at the top.  
"Come on, you two," Maddie said, walking ahead. "We've got to check in before we get to the room. And then we can eat," she added to hurry Jazz along.  
The entrance hall to Hotel Star City was very fancy. The domed glass ceiling soared above their heads and two twin staircases wrapped their way to the second floor. Danny could see his reflection in the polished black- and-white marble of the floor. He had to pull Jazz away from the entrance to the Ascendancy Room, which featured an all-night buffet with short-order cooks waiting to fill a guest's order.  
They went up the double staircase into the reception area. Attendants were standing behind desks, fiddling with pens and their computers as they waited for something to happen. Jack tried to get the attention of one particularly bored clerk who looked like only his large paycheck was keeping him from doing something else.  
The man looked at Jack's jumpsuit and, almost scornfully, said, "Can I help you?" in a nasally voice.  
"Yes, I reserved a room under Fenton," Jack said.  
"Fenton, Fenton," the man repeated as he typed something into the computer. "I'm sorry," he said after a moment. "Your name doesn't appear to be in our database."  
"What? That's impossible," Maddie said. "Jack made the reservations weeks ago, didn't you, Jack?"  
"Huh? Oh, yes, the reservations. That I was supposed to make...." he trailed off and hit his head. "Darn. I knew there was something I forgot."  
Maddie sighed and turned towards the attendant. "Is there any chance we could get a spare room now?"  
The attendant gave a short laugh that sounded like the dying breath of an obese capybara. "Hotel Star City has five stars for a reason, ma'am, that reason being that it is ridiculously hard to get in to. There isn't an open room for the next...." He checked the computer. "Three weeks."  
Jack got a sly look on his face and wrote something on a piece of paper. "Maybe this could help free up a room," he said, sliding it towards the clerk.  
"Dad! Don't bribe him!" Jazz said.  
The clerk peered at the paper curiously and asked, "Is that number a four or a seven?"  
Jack grinned. "That is a one, my man."  
"Ah. Well, in that case...." The clerk crumpled up the paper and snapped his fingers. A large, burly, five-star-hotel version of a bouncer appeared at his side. "Security, please escort these people to the door."  
"Don't bother- we can find it ourselves," Maddie snapped and stomped off. Inwardly groaning, Danny followed his mother down the stairs and out of the hotel, where it had begun to rain. "Can you believe the nerve of that man? I mean, can you believe it? Oooh, people like him make me so mad! If I hadn't left when I had-"  
"Uh, Mom?" Danny said, interrupting Maddie's rant. "Maybe it's not such a good idea for you to drive right now."  
Jack perked up. "If Maddie's not going to drive, I could always-"  
"No!"  
"Well, it was just an idea," Jack muttered, shuffling his feet.  
  
-------------  
  
"So now what do we do?" Danny asked.  
Jazz shrugged. She had decided to put her driver's license to good use and had gotten the GAV out of downtown Star City.  
"Well, we need to find someplace to stay for the next few days," Maddie said.  
A loud growl came from the front passenger seat. "But first, we need to eat!" Jack said. "I haven't been this hungry since our honeymoon."  
"What happened on your honeymoon?" Jazz asked, interested in spite of herself.  
"Your father thought it would be, uh.... _romantic_ to take a trip to Romania and rent a haunted castle," Maddie replied.  
"Cool! Did you see any ghosts?" Danny asked.  
"No, but we did get stranded in the woods for three days," said Jack.  
At this point, Jazz was only paying half-attention to the conversation going on around her. The rain had started to pick up and the sky had gotten dark when she discovered that the headlights on the van didn't work. Sighing, she flipped on the windshield wipers and concentrated on the road ahead.  
"Look over there," Maddie said, tapping her daughter's shoulders. She pointed to a small strip mall with a sign declaring it _Turrets Shopping Center_. "There's got to be something to eat over there."  
"Or at least a place for us to get out of the storm," Jazz said, pulling into the parking lot.  
"Hey, it's a pizza place!" Danny said. As soon as Jazz parked the GAV, he jumped out and headed towards the restaurant.  
  
-------------  
  
Eliza Channings sat at a booth, idly sipping at her Diet Coke. Her brother sat in the opposite seat, staring intently at the episode of Maho Mushi that was being broadcast on the big-screen TV. How her parents had saved up enough money to get the TV for the restaurant was beyond her; all Eliza knew was that since it had been installed, KiKi's Pizza was a popular hangout. It was especially true that night, when it seemed as though every family in Star City had come to eat pizza on Thanksgivings Eve.  
"Todd, when's this gonna be over?" Eliza asked.  
"Why?" came her nine-year-old brother's reply.  
"Because, I want to see the Chip Skylark special at six thirty," Eliza said.  
Todd made a face. "Why do you like him? He's not that good a singer."  
"Don't ever say that!" Eliza said, kicking Todd's shin. What resulted was a mini-kicking war that lasted all of fifteen seconds.  
Besides getting all the pizza she could want and then some, Eliza thought that the best thing about spending time in her parents' restaurant was that she could watch people as she pleased. Star City was a cultural crossroads; she never knew who the next one would be to walk through their door.  
At that moment, a black-haired boy came bursting through the door followed by people that Eliza presumed to be his family. There was a red- haired girl wearing a black shirt, light blue pants, and a hair band of the same color; she looked to be about two years older than the boy. The two adults with them were dressed in jumpsuits, the man's orange and the woman's black and dark teal.  
Todd nudged his sister. "Check it out. Why're they dressed like that?"  
"Maybe they're here for that convention thing," Eliza suggested. Todd shrugged and returned to the TV.  
  
"Welcome to KiKi's Pizza!" an overly-enthusiastic waitress said. "Would you like a booth or a table?" Peering about, she added, "Actually, you don't have that much of a choice, so how close do you want to be to the buffet?"  
Jack blinked. "There's a buffet?"  
"Yes sir. All-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, salad, and desert buffet for just three ninety-nine."  
"Sweet heaven, I'm in love again!" Jack cried as he bounded over to the buffet tables.  
"Don't worry," the waitress said as Jazz hid her face in her hands. "We get that all the time." She ushered the remaining Fentons to one of the few empty booths in the restaurant. After hastily explaining that they were only offering the buffet that night because they were short-staffed, she took their drink orders and was off.  
"All right, since we're here, we might as well eat and enjoy ourselves for the time being," Maddie said. "Then we can worry about accommodations."  
"Hey, we could always camp out in the GAV again," Danny suggested.  
"Do not _ever_ joke about that," Jazz said as they got up to get in line for the buffet.  
While waiting, Danny felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. A shock of red hair greeted him, belonging to a girl a tad shorter than himself. She stood looking almost eye-level with Danny, a sparkle in her gray eyes.  
"Hey, I'm Eliza Channings," the girl said, holding out her hand.  
"Danny Fenton," Danny said, shaking it. "Do you live around here?"  
"Yeah, my parents own the restaurant. Is that your dad?" Eliza asked.  
Danny, almost afraid to look, saw his father piling more pizza on his plate than was probably legal. "Uh-huh. That's Dad. I don't know where Mom is, though."  
There was a sudden crash of dishes and, almost in unison, everyone in the restaurant swiveled their heads to look. The waitress who had dropped the plates was staring at Danny's mother, disbelief written all over her face.  
"M-maddie?" she asked incredulously.  
  
-------------  
  
Mwahaha. Betcha don't know what's gonna happen, eh? Well, some people will, namely my betas. Yay betas! Oh, and I know that I said I was gonna get the reviewers taken care of- and I am- but I'm going to dedicate each chapter to someone. Chapter One is dedicated to my good friend Lunabird, who sadly is not on FFnet unless she has done so without me knowing. Why does Luna get the dedication? Because without her, the entire Star City idea wouldn't have happened. Chapter Two is dedicated to my real life friend Vicky, who listened to me rant about DSC while at the ice skating rink.  
Okay, here's something for ya'll to know: Star City is based on my old hometown that I inhabited until the middle of June. I'm leaving little clues as to what city it really is, which I will address in the next chapter. Now, the reviewers!  
  
Shadowesque13: Came a bit late with the chapter title, O Shadowed One. And I'm sorry for blowing up at you about Keeper Revisited.  
  
lightning streak: Thankee kindly, marm.   
  
Wind Cat: You know, it's people like you that keep people like me writing like an insane fool. As soon as I get around to it, I'll read one of your fics and write insanely nice things about it.  
  
Snow Owl Queen: Well, Snowy, I, too, know what it's like to function late at night. Did you know, my favorite punctuation mark is a comma?  
  
KimuraSato: BUDDEH!!!!!!! tacklehugs  
  
Goodnight, everybody! 


	3. Thanksgiving With the Channingses

August 16, 2004: Uh-huh. What did I tell you? A week late. And no, I don't have two chapters for you. I do have a freakin' long chapter that more than doubles the length of this story. Without the author's notes, this chapter is 4,223 words long. Or something like that. Well, I felt bad about missing last Saturday's update, so I kinda went crazy there....

The George Lopez reference in the second chapter was when Jack tried to bribe the clerk dude; George did the same thing with a preacher, and got the same reaction. The Barry Manilow reference was Jack's line, "Sweet heaven, I'm in love again!", which comes from Barry's song of the same title. Without the exclamation point.

References in this chapter.... they are almost too numerous to mention. Here they are, in order (I hope): Skipping Christmas, The Matrix, The View From Saturday, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, FairlyOdd Parents, Kingdom Hearts, Return to Sender, Power Rangers, Homestar Runner, "Ed, Edd, & Eddy",

This chapter's OFtR is Fire and Ice by cyropi. It's a very well written Draco/Hermione romance for the HP category. I've decided to mess with the layout of the story so it doesn't look so weird. When I tried to read the first two chapters, I got a headache. Y'all tell me if this is better or what.

-------------

Danny in Star City 

Chapter Three:

At the sound of the crash, Jazz turned around in her booth. _What on earth....? _Jazz thought. She saw a waitress with bright, red hair staring at her mother, mouth agape.

"M-maddie?" the woman asked.

There was silence on Maddie's part as she studied the other woman's face. Recognition flashed on her face and she said, "Katrina? I don't believe it!"

The other woman nodded, grinning, and the two hugged.

"I can't believe you're here! This is incredible!" Katrina laughed.

"I know! How long has it been?" Maddie asked.

"Too long!"

All the while, Jazz and Jack were looking on, slightly dumbfounded. "How do they know each other?" they both asked. Jazz stared at her father in surprise. "What, don't you know?"

Jack shrugged helplessly. "I didn't know Maddie's even been here before."

A man came out of the kitchen with short, ash blonde hair and an air of authority. "Is everything all right?" he asked. "I heard a crash-" Spotting Maddie and Katrina, who were carrying on like teenage girls, the man raised an eyebrow.

"It's okay, Dad," said a girl standing behind Danny in the buffet line. "Mom just met a friend."

"Uh-huh," the man said. Jazz assumed that this was the girl's father- they shared the same piercing gray eyes. Raising his voice, he directed to the restaurant, "Nothing to worry about, just a little female bonding time going on. In the middle of everything," he added, a bit pointedly. Maddie dragged Katrina over to her table and introduced her to her family.

"This is Katrina Channings, my old friend from high school," Maddie said. "Katrina, this is my husband Jack, my daughter Jazz, and my son- wait a minute, where's Danny?"

"Right behind you, Mom," Danny said, holding a plate. The same girl from before was behind him.

"Where were you, Danny?" Maddie asked.

"Well, I was getting my food," he said, holding up his plate. "And Eliza's dad needed someone to clean up the broken dishes."

At this statement, all eyes turned towards Katrina. "Well, it was an accident," she said sheepishly, rubbing her arm. "Anyway, this is my fourteen-year-old daughter, Eliza. Her brother, Todd, is over there," she said, pointing to the next booth down. Todd, the nine-year-old with dirty blond hair, gave a vague salute with his spoon and went back to watching anime.

"You mean we're sitting right next to each other?" Danny asked, blinking.

"It's just been one freaky day for coincidences, huh?" Eliza asked, sitting across from her brother. Seeing no place left for him at his family's booth once Katrina sat down, Danny slid in next to her.

Jack's eyes narrowed as he watched his wife and Katrina talk across the table. Leaning back so as not to be heard by the women, he said, "I don't like the look of this, Danny. What if that woman-"

"Don't say it!" Jazz said.

"-is a ghost?"

Jazz groaned. "He says it anyway!

"Jack!" Maddie hissed. To her surprise, Katrina started to laugh.

"Your husband's interested in ghosts, too?"

"Is yours?" Maddie asked.

"Yes, though it's more of a side hobby for Eric," Katrina said.

"I think that Mom being a ghost would be highly unlikely," Eliza spoke up from her seat, as she had been listening the whole time. "I mean, don't ghosts usually glow or have green skin or haunt graveyards or something?"

"Well, many of them do, but- wait! How do you know that? Are _you_ a ghost?" Jack asked.

"Yes," Todd spoke up, making Katrina and Maddie laugh harder.

"Don't you have senselessly violent anime to watch?" Eliza asked. Todd shrugged and Eliza turned back towards Jack. "No, but I do watch more horror movies that is probably good for me," she said.

"Ever see the 'Dead Teacher' series?" Danny asked.

"Man, those movies are awesome!" Eliza said. "My favorite was the third one, 'Revenge on the Over-Priced Zombie Queen'."

"How can you like those movies? The effects are so cheap," Jazz said.

"Puh-leeze," said Eliza, rolling her eyes. "If I wanted to see special effects, I'd rent 'The Matrix'."

"'There is no spoon, Neo. There is no spoon,'" Danny quoted.

"That really bakes my noodle," Eliza replied seriously. She caught his eye and started to laugh; Danny found himself unable to do anything but follow suit.

Shaking her finger at Danny, Eliza said, "Hurry up and eat your pizza," and turned back to her own plate.

Jack, who had decided that Female Bonding Hour just wasn't for him, moved down and sat next to Todd, proceeding to shovel in food with great gusto. Jazz was about to comment when she saw that Danny was eating in the same manner. Taking a bite of her pepperoni slice, she saw why; this was-

"-the best pizza you've ever tasted."

"Huh?" Jazz said with her mouth full, realizing that she was being addressed.

"I said, come on, admit it- this is the best pizza you ever tasted," Katrina repeated.

"Question: Shouldn't you be getting back to work?" Eliza asked.

Katrina waved aside her daughter's query. "It won't kill business if I take a little break."

Jack had decided that Todd was the perfect person to use to test out his storytelling skills. The nine-year-old was completely enthralled with Jack's tales of courage, adventure, and/or sudden death, but that was mainly because he was making them up.

"....and I heroically piloted the Millennium Falcon from crashing into the Martian spaceport. And then they made me their chief," Jack concluded his story.

"You know, somehow I don't remember any of this happening" Danny said.

"Eh, what can you do about it?" Eliza said vaguely. She poked at her salad and glared out of the restaurant windows. It had grown very dark very fast and the restaurant was slowly emptying out. Lightning forked across the sky and the rain came down in torrents.

"You know, since it is Thanksgivings Eve and all-"

"-which isn't a real holiday," Danny pointed out.

"It is in Star City," she said. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure that we're closing early. Mom's probably going to take us home in a little bit. I'd hate to be caught in a storm."

"What, you don't call this a storm?" Danny asked.

"What, you do?" said Eliza. "This is nothing- probably won't even flood."

"'Probably'?" Danny repeated.

-------------

"So, where are y'all staying?" Katrina asked.

"Well, we _were_ going to stay at the Hotel Star City, but...." Maddie trailed off.

"Dad forgot to make the reservations," Jazz said bluntly.

"Have you found another hotel?" Katrina asked. When Jazz shook her head, she looked thoughtful. "Why don't you stay with us?" she asked. "We've got enough room, and I'm sure that Eric wouldn't mind."

Maddie perked up. "Would you, really?"

"In a heartbeat," Katrina said, smiling. "As soon as y'all're done eating, we can go home."

Jazz pushed her plate away. "Done," she announced.

Katrina grinned. "All right. Eliza, you and Danny get enough to eat?"

"Yeah, we're good," Eliza said. She looked over at Jack and Todd, who were both totally engrossed in the TV. "Isn't Maho Mushi over yet?"

"Shh!" said Jack. "They're about to begin the Myatokai!"

"....the _what_?" Eliza asked.

"It's Japanese for 'senselessly violent random bouts of combat'," Todd explained.

"Oh.... kay...." said Eliza. "Mom, I don't think they're moving anytime soon."

"It's over now," Todd said, jumping out of the booth.

"That's it? I wanna know what happens next!" Jack complained.

"Relax, Mr. Fenton. They show it eight times a day," Eliza said, rolling her eyes.

-------------

When they got to the Channings household, Eliza took them on the grand tour. Standing in the foyer, she pointed and rattled off points of interest. "That's the kitchen and the den and the living room and my room's up there and some guest rooms and the basement."

Jack raised his hand. "Where's your-"

"Down the hallway, third door on your left," she said.

"Thanks!" Jack said, running off.

"Anyway," Katrina said, shrugging her purse onto the counter, "we have two spare rooms- one upstairs, and one downstairs. Eliza, show Danny and Jazz where they'll be staying. Now, Maddie, you and Jack are down here...." her voice grew softer as she led Maddie down the hall.

Eliza took Danny and Jazz up the staircase and to the guest bedroom. It was very simple with a bed, a desk, a chair, and a bookcase. "Nice, huh? Since we only have one bed...." Eliza opened the closet and presented them with a sleeping bag. "I'll leave you to decide who sleeps on the floor." Smiling, she tossed the bag to Danny and sprinted out of the room.

"Um.... I'm going to be the one using the sleeping bag, aren't I?" Danny asked.

"Yep," said Jazz, opening her suitcase on the bed.

-------------

Though the rain had lessened, it never completely let up. The moon peeked out from the cloud cover from time to time, shedding whatever light its pale crescent could afford. Jazz, always a light sleeper, had woken up for a few moments. Staring out the window, she let her mind wander. Tomorrow- or, seeing as it was past midnight, today- was Thanksgivings. She assumed that the Channingses would be glad to include the Fentons in any celebrations. For Jazz and her family, tradition dictated a humongous lunch followed by the four of them groaning about their distended stomachs for the next several hours.

Jazz had been on plenty of overnight field trips and sleep-away camps and was probably the least susceptible of her family to homesickness. However, she admitted, she missed her own bedroom and the familiar sights of Amity Park. _It's only for a few days_, she reminded herself. _And since we're away from home, maybe Danny can finally get a break. _Her gaze turned towards her brother, who was snoring peacefully by her bed. Moonlight highlighted his dark hair, a large strand of it hanging over his features. Jazz smiled to herself as it was fluttered by his breath.

He looked so relaxed right now. She thought sadly of how tense he had seemed in the past few months, how the responsibility was so obvious on his face when he thought no one was looking. Was it just two weeks ago that she'd discovered Danny's secret? Jazz still didn't know the whole story, or what exactly her brother was going through- he'd tell her when _he_ wanted to, and not a moment sooner. She knew, deep down, that Danny could handle it, but still....

_Stop worrying_, she told herself. _Danny can take care of himself._ He had saved her from Spectra, after all.... Jazz shivered at the thought of how close she had been to a ghost.

The muffled sound of the downstairs grandfather clock broke Jazz's train of thought. Sighing, Jazz lay back down and closed her eyes. _Two o'clock and all's well_, she thought, peeking at Danny one last time. _For now, anyway._

-------------

Yawning, Danny awoke to the smell of bacon. He vaguely wondered why his mom let Jack near the stove after the Baltimore Kitchen Incident until he realized that A) this was not his room, and B) his back hurt like crap. He rolled over and yelped; Eliza was staring him in the face.

"Knock it off, Eliza," Danny grumbled as he sat up on the borrowed sleeping bag.

The redhead smiled. "Danny, you lazy bum. I knew I'd find you snoozing up here. It's almost nine thirty- everyone else has been up for at least an hour," she informed him.

"That's insane. Don't they know you're supposed to sleep in during vacation?" Danny asked, standing up to stretch.

Eliza shrugged and headed out of the room. "Me and Jazz were the first ones up. Your sister's a cool bean."

"A what?" Danny asked, following Eliza into the hallway.

"A cool bean. A neat person. Jazz is a cool bean."

Danny struggled with this concept. "You mean, you can actually stand to be around my sister?"

"Yeah," said Eliza, going down the stairs. Glancing back at Danny, she asked, "What, don't you like her?"

"Of course I do! She's just.... my sister."

"Yeah, I get where that sentiment comes from," she said, rolling her eyes. The two had arrived in an empty kitchen; a note tacked on the fridge announced that all the adults had split to go off to brunch and then grocery shopping (the men were taken by force, let me assure you). Jazz and Eliza had started making breakfast when Todd woke up. After consuming more pancakes and bacon than was probably good for them, the four decided to partake in a respectable game of poker.

"Tell me again why we're playing with Pringles," Jazz said.

"Well, I couldn't find any actual poker chips, and all of us own a grand total of three twenty-seven," said Eliza, shuffling the deck.

"If _someone_ would quit eating the fill-in poker chips," Danny said, staring pointedly at Todd, "we could actually finish a game."

"Wha?" Todd asked through a mouth of Pringles. "Wha I do?"

-------------

The adults came home around noon for a lunch of tacos ("It's tradition!" Todd insisted), then shoed the kids out of the kitchen so they could prepare dinner. Much to his dismay, Jack was counted as one of the kids and was banned from getting near an open flame or sharp object.

"Come on, Dad," Jazz said. She had started a game of Go Fish in an attempt to cheer her father up. "It's probably for the best."

"How can you say that, Jasmine?" Jack asked. "I just wanted to help, and your mom's being stubborn."

Jazz narrowed her eyes. "Do you even remember what happened last Thanksgivings? You nearly blew up the stove and made us go to the Nasty Burger for dinner."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Danny said. Prodding his father, he asked, "Got any threes?"

"We just started, and I'm already losing," Jack grumbled as he forked over his cards.

"Where did Eliza and Todd go?" Danny asked.

"Todd, you little cretin! Get back here!"

Todd raced into the room, holding a bra. Eliza came stomping after him, her face reddening to match her hair.

"Give that back, or God so help me-" she said through clenched teeth, making a wringing motion in the air with her hand.

"Make me!" Todd said, waving the undergarment around like a flag.

Eliza tackled her brother to the ground. Jazz, Jack, and Danny were unable to do anything but watch on as spectators at the brief scuffle that ensued. It ended with Eliza sitting on Todd's back, effectively pinning him to the ground.

"Look, I can easily sit here all day," she said, ignoring her brother's kicks and protests. "Remember last Easter? That wasn't fun at _all_, now was it? So why don't you just hand it over, and I'll be on my way."

Todd flung the bra across the room and in a flash Eliza jumped off his back. "You're still dead," she told him as she went with as much dignity as she could muster up to her room. As soon as she was safely out of earshot, Danny burst out laughing.

"I see nothing funny about this," Jazz said, crossing her arms.

"What are you talking about? That was hilarious!" Danny said and gave Todd a handshake. "As soon as possible, I want to give you an award; 'To Todd Channings for bugging an older sister'."

"Thanks. I get a lot of practice- it's like an art form," Todd said proudly. The smirk was wiped off his face when Eliza, having been successful in storing away the offending garment, reentered the room with murder in her eyes. Giving a yelp, Todd dived behind Jack, using the oversized man as a barrier.

"Hide me!" he pleaded.

Jack blinked, looking unsure of what to do. A groan from Jazz broke the tense silence. Giving one last half-hearted shake of her fist towards Todd, Eliza flopped on the floor next to Danny. Danny was unable to get his laughter under control before Eliza noticed.

"Oh, stuff it," she said, still blushing.

"Must have been pretty embarrassing," Danny snickered.

"Embarrassing? Try mortifying. You won't tell anyone, will you?" she asked in an anxious tone. "Cause if you do, I'll have to change my name and move to New Zealand. I don't want to move to New Zealand."

"Well, it depends on how much you give me," Danny began.

"Danny won't breath a word of it to anyone, right, Danny?" Jazz said, glaring at her brother.

"Nah, I was just kidding with you," said Danny.

"Hmph. And as for _you"_ Eliza said to Todd, "what was with the pick-on-my-sister moment?"

Todd crossed his arms and held his head up. "I plead the fifth," he announced, closing his eyes.

"Todd, do you even know what that means?

"....no. But it makes me sound smart."

-------------

The rest of the day was spent in friendly banter between Danny, Eliza, and Todd. Jazz automatically excluded herself from their group, being too "mature" for them. Instead, she elected to play her father in thirty-four consecutive games of Old Maid. She lost each time.

"Ha! Now you have to do dishes for a week!" Jack said, sticking out his tongue.

"Is this the same week I'm supposed to make all the beds and take out the trash and any other chore that comes to mind?" she asked sarcastically.

Jack, completely missing his daughter's dry tone, rubbed his chin. "Perhaps another game can settle that," he suggested, reshuffling the deck.

Danny was on the couch, sitting between Eliza and her brother. After flat-out refusing to watch the Thanksgivings Day Power Rangers Marathon ("Maho Mushi has more of a plotline, and that's sayin' something."), the elder Channings child turned the channel to the Macy's Parade and muted the TV.

"Sofia McSang. Crapface."

"Here come the cheerleaders from Blond Bimbo University, where they can't keep their heads from bouncing when they talk," Eliza said, acting as a reporter.

"Tara Duvanee. Crapface."

"And what a great November day it is for running around in New York wearing mini-skirts," Danny said, picking up where Eliza left off. "It's got to be a balmy thirty-three degrees out there."

"Jessica Summers. Crapface."

"Todd, what are you doing?" Eliza asked.

"Making fun of the cheerleaders," Todd replied, watching their names scroll at the bottom of the screen. "Yvonne Kirstir. Lemme think about it- crapface."

Danny shrugged. "At least he's consistent," he said. Noticing that Eliza had spaced out, Danny waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello? Eliza? I'm talking to you!"

Eliza grabbed Danny's hand and used it to cover his mouth. "Shut up! This is incredible! How'd they get him to come on?"

"Who?" both Danny and Todd asked.

Eliza shrieked and bounced- yes, _bounced-_ up to the screen. "Omigawd, it's **Chip Skylark**!" she announced to the world.

Jack looked up from the card game he was winning. "Who?" he asked.

Jazz sighed. "Chip Skylark-"

"-is hot!" Eliza cried with glee.

"-is a singer. Obviously, Eliza's developed an infatuation with him and views him as an idol."

"Shh! He's singing! _Hey Vicky, you're so icky...."_ Eliza sang along.

"Who's this Vicky he speaks of?" Danny asked.

"Is she a ghost?" said Jack (like you couldn't guess).

"_....just the sight of you makes me oh so sicky!"_ she sang louder to drown out the conversation.

"This is sad," said Jazz.

"You don't have to live with it! Look, she's practically drooling over him," Todd said in disgust.

Eliza went into a fangirl swoon as her crush had a close-up. Her eyes snapped open and she looked at Danny. She looked back to the TV, and then at Danny again.

"What?" Danny asked nervously.

TV. Danny. TV. "You look just like him," Eliza said in awe. Danny. "I mean...." TV. "The eyes...." Danny. "The hair...." She got up and poked his head. "How do you get yours like that? Hair gel?" she asked, patting it down.

Danny, who was thoroughly freaked out at this point, batted Eliza's

hands away. "Quit it! My hair's always like this, and don't touch it!"

"Maybe you two are long-lost twin brothers or something," Eliza said, giving his hair one last yank before she sat back down in front of the television.

"That might be possible, if it weren't for the fact that he's five years older than me," Danny said, trying to smooth out his hair. When that didn't work, he just tried to get his raven locks to look vaguely like they had before Eliza started messing with them.

It was around this point that the smell of food cooking began to waft from the kitchen to the den. Danny and Jack tried very hard to sneak in to "check up on dinner", only to be rudely booted out by the women. Eric came out and faced the hungry questions of four kids and a Jack.

"I've got some good news; we're eating soon," Eric announced. "The bad news is that I couldn't sneak pie out of the kitchen without alerting _your_ mothers," he said, pointing to each of the kids in turn. "So I can't really tell you if they're up to scratch, like last year's."

"So that's why you were kicked out of the kitchen?" said Eliza.

"What makes you think I was kicked out?" Eric asked.

"Were you?"

"....yes."

-------------

Maddie and Katrina declared dinner to be ready around six o'clock. There was a mad dash to the dining room, but eventually everyone got their seats at the table. All linked hands and Eric blessed the food, Todd copying his father in exaggerated motions. Eliza squeezed his hand a bit too hard to make him stop and he quietly grumbled.

"Can we eat yet?" Todd asked after the 'Amen'.

"Hey, if you wanted heathen food, fine by me," Eric said, picking up a roll.

"You can always bless it later. Like this: Thank you God for the food we ate, please don't let us regurgitate."

Katrina rolled her eyes. "Charming, Todd," she said.

It was one of the best meals Danny had ever tasted. The Channingses had really gone out of their way to make sure their guests were well-fed. There were double helpings of everything; mashed potatoes, buttered rolls, deviled eggs, stuffing, breaded mushrooms, zucchini, okra, corn on the cob, summer squash, and, of course, the turkey. It was Katrina's pride and joy, taking her three hours to cook. How she had managed to find a decent-sized turkey the day of Thanksgivings was anybody's guess; the others assumed it had something to do with blackmailing a Mafia mob boss at gunpoint and thus thought it wise not to ask.

"Y'know, me and Tucker- my friend I told you about- have always wondered why they call it cranberry sauce," Danny said, poking a suspicious-looking fuchsia blob on his plate. "I mean, sauce is usually thin and runny, not can-shaped."

Eliza shrugged. "Who cares?" she asked. "All you need to know is that it tastes good. See?" she said, smooshing it between her roll.

"Your friend is Tucker Foley, right?" Katrina asked. "Maddie's told me all about your little friends."

"Uh.... she has?" Danny said, looking towards his mom. "What else has she told you?"

"More than likely every intricate detail of your life," Eliza muttered. "It's how mothers bond. I swear, if my mom told yours what happens when I come in contact with blueberries.... It's not a pretty sight."

"Great. Now your mom probably has embarrassing information on me," Danny groaned.

"And if I ever get wind of it, I could use it as blackmailing material! Brilliant!" Eliza cackled.

Danny snorted into his drink. "What was _that_?" he asked.

"A cackle," Eliza said. "My evil laughs always sound stupid, so...." She shrugged and cackled again, making them both laugh.

When the eight of them had cleared the platters and eaten until they felt like they would burst, Katrina and Eric went in the kitchen and emerged with dessert. They passed around apple pie, pumpkin pie, blueberry cobbler (which Eliza politely refused), and a humongous tub of Cherry Garcia.

"_My_ ice cream," Todd said expressively, eating straight out of the container. No one argued. Later on the adults had coffee while the kids went in the den and sat around, watching more of the educational programming available on holidays.

"What, you call that a pass? You throw like a girl! Who taught you how to play, your mommy?" Eliza shouted at the screen.

"Eliza sure likes football," Danny commented.

Jazz looked up from the book that she was reading. "So? It's good to be interested in sports. They encourage teamwork and strategy-"

"-and sisters to go on and on about stuff I don't particularly care about," Danny said. Jazz grumbled and went back to reading.

"What? Oh, come on! The guy was open! Ball-hogger!"

Danny closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch. The food was getting to him, and he slowly began to nod off. No one noticed the pair of glowing eyes that watched from the window.

-------------

Oooh. Freakeh. Before I get to my wonderful reviewers (feel the love, you guys), I must address one topic: Star City is a real place. Duh. That's what I said last chapter. Weren't you listening? Of course not. Anyway, to help y'all out, I'm going to list the clues at the bottom of each chapter.

For chapter two: Star City is an alternate name to my old hometown. The Star River runs through it, though it's called something else- the Name of Old Hometown River. There is also a Hotel Name of Old Hometown . If you use a thesaurus for the "ascendancy" in Ascendancy Room, you get what the _real_ name of the restaurant it called. Same thing with Turrets Shopping Center- look up synonyms "turrets". KiKi's Pizza is my version of a popular pizza chain in my corner of the universe.

For chapter three: Um.... there weren't really a lot of clues in here. hides But don't worry! There should be more in the next one! Now, for the reviewers:

Silver Latias: Sweetness! Thank you for the kind words. Yes, driving always brings out the worst in people.

Snow Owl Queen: Well, if you liked the FOP references in the second chapter, I'm sure you loved this chapter.

Shadowesque13: Dude. Betas rock, yo. And Dollywood wasn't _that_ bad. I mean, better than Magic Kingdom.

getfuzzyfan04: Okay, but only if you sign up on FFnet. winks

smile7499: I know, tell me about it! It's like they have a really good first chapter, then die. The story is then taken over by their sister/son/goldfish, who can't write for beans.

Ookami32: The Possessed Dime? Tell me, is that as bad as my Wingéd Vampire Spoons?

Chibi Fluffy Muffin: Hey, you thought that the cliffhanger in the _last_ chapter was bad? What'd you think of this one?

Wind Cat: Yes, I had fun, but I fear I may have lost many of my fans due to skipping a week. --

mcfishche: I just figured out that if you take away the "he" on the end of the name, it says McFish.

Hiyume: A girl of short words, eh? Well, at least I know someone is reading this humble piece of.... fanfiction.

You-Know-Who: Hey, Voldie! How are the Death Eaters doing? starts cracking up Er.... riiiiiiight. Anywho, aimlessness is always a good thing.

Gah. This stupid chapter is DONE. Wait.... must dedicate it to someone.... I know! My little brother Michael, who gave me ideas for Todd's Eliza torture. Speaking of which, I want to know what you think of these original characters. Take your Highlighters of Repression and Sharpies of Correctness and be honest. I swear, I won't take it the wrong way. hides chainsaw Promise.

Adíos.


	4. Working Vacation

August 29, 2004: You know, I'm really glad that no one knows where I live. I'm pretty sure that some of you would come and lynch me for missing last week's deadline. Yes, I know, this chapter is late. Though I won't go into details, I'll tell you that I had a crisis to deal with and leave it at that.

References in the last chapter- Skipping Christmas: the title of the movie version of the book is Christmas with the Kranks, and the chapter title was Thanksgivings with the Channingses; The Matrix references were the two quotes by Danny and Eliza; Eliza's "Question: ...." was referring to Nate's habit of saying "Fact: ...." in The View From Saturday; Jack is piloting the Millennium Falcon, stolen from the first Star Wars trilogy; "....and then they made me their chief" is the conclusion to a story that Jack Sparrow tells in Pirates of the Caribbean that I'm sure we'd _all_ like to hear more about; Maho Mushi and Chip Skylark come from FOP; in the SquareSoft game Kingdom Hearts, Sora is rudely awakened by Kairi and says, "Knock it off, Kairi", to which she replies, "Sora, you lazy bum. I knew I'd find you snoozing down here."; the whole Eliza-sitting-on-her-brother was "borrowed" from the webcomic Return to Sender (http: rts. lunistice. com/). Power Rangers makes its own reference; Todd's making fun of the cheerleaders by calling them Crapface is reminiscent of a Strong Bad email on www. homestarrunner .com; Danny's "At least he's consistant" and Eliza's use of the word "mortified" is borrowed from Ed, Edd, and Eddy.

References in this chapter- not nearly as many as the last one! We have one from Invader Zim, Time Stops for No Mouse, and The Misfits.

The good thing about me giving you an OFtR each chapter is that when I'm late (which happens quite often, as you've seen), you don't need to wait in horrible waitness- you can read something else! I have designated the X-Men: Evolution fic Toad's Pet by red witch as the OFtR. Now, red witch has close to 450 stories on FFnet along, so I will make it easy for you by giving you this link:  
www .fanfiction .net /s/370929/1/..

I like the layout change, so I shall keep it that way. Thanks for your patience, and enjoy!

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City  
Chapter Four: Working Vacation

It was a clichéd dark and stormy night. The moon, if it had not been completely obscured by clouds, would have shown up as nothing more than a sliver of light. Buckets of water dumped over Star City, the downpour not letting up for a minute.

"I dunno what's wrong with the weather," Eliza had said earlier. "Usually we get all the rain in the summer. If anything, it should be snowing."

"You'd better hope it doesn't. Elsewise, there's no way anyone will get to the convention," Katrina said, looking out the window.

After nearly falling asleep on the couch, Danny dragged himself up to the guest bedroom and collapsed on top of the sleeping bag. Vaguely, he was aware of Jazz coming in, turning off the light, and slipping into bed. He was having a very nice sleep, dreaming peacefully about nothing in particular; the first sign of trouble was a slight tickling at the back of his throat.

Groaning inwardly, Danny refused to open his eyes. Maybe if he ignored it, it would go away.... Moments later he sprung upright, trying desperately to clear his air passage; a thick, blue smoke flowed from his mouth. Danny coughed the last few wisps out as a shock of cold spread through his body.

_Of all the places for a ghost to follow me_, Danny thought. He stood up and concentrated, closing his eyes to search for the power that he knew was just beneath the surface. A bright flash lit the room, twin rings of blue light crossing over his body. The chill from before intensified and Danny felt as though he had been plunged into a tub of ice water.

"Danny?"

Danny stiffened at his sister's voice. The light from him going ghost must have woken her. He turned towards the bed, hoping that there wouldn't be sufficient light for Jazz to see him clearly.

"Hey Jazz. Nothing to worry about. Just go back to sleep, okay?" he said.

There was brief silence on Jazz's part before she quietly murmured, "Okay."

Danny watched her lay her head back down on the pillow and waited a few minutes before phasing out of the room. When he left, a soft, concerned voice said, "Be careful, Danny."

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

His ghost-sense didn't go off again, though Danny could still feel the presence of the ghost like a nagging tug at his mind; he was certain that it was around there somewhere. A brief look through the house proved rather fruitless, so he took the search outside. It didn't take long for his hair to become completely soaked, but his suit was able to keep him mostly dry.

"Where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are," Danny called. Movement caught his eye and he saw a figure lurking near the second story patio. Quietly, so as not to give off his presence, he floated towards the ghost and tried to formulate a plan. When that failed, he grabbed the spirit's shoulders and, spinning him around, left him face to face with....

"I am the Box Ghost!"

"....you're _kidding_ me," Danny groaned.

The blue nimrod shook his head and repeated, "I am the Box Ghost! Ruler of all things-"

"-cardboard and square, I know, I know," Danny said, letting him go. "What are you doing here?"

"I have come to warn you of your impending doom!" the Box Ghost said, waving his arms around.

"Uh-huh. And what might this 'impending doom' be, exactly?" Danny asked.

"I have been sent to make you aware of your doom and to keep you as far away from your enemy as possible!"

"What enemy? And why are you trying to help me?" Danny asked.

The ghost took a breath and launched into a lengthy explanation that involved a parable about boxes. However, it died halfway through and took him five minutes to find where he left off. By this time, Danny wasn't paying any attention at all, just wondering whether or not it was possible to strangle someone who wasn't even alive.

"Do you have a point?" Danny snapped, more than ready to get back inside.

"Yes," the Box Ghost said, suddenly becoming serious. "You are the only one who can stop this ghost from wreaking havoc on not only this plane, but the Ghost Zone as well. If you don't stop him...." He waved his arms around for effect. "Those you catch in cylindrical containers will be the least of your worries."

"Great. So I've got another person who hates me," Danny groaned. "Can you at least tell me his name, or when he'll try to attack?"

"Not even I, the master of all things cardboard and square, know the answer to that. All I can say is.... beware!" he shouted and zoomed off.

Danny hovered there for a few minutes, watching the retreating back of the Box Ghost. Very calmly, he floated down to the ground and started hitting his head on a tree.

"All- I want- is- a few- ghost-free days!" he said, his words punctuated by bangs. "Is that- really- so much- to ask? Is it?"

He spent a few more minutes sulking and whining about life in general before deciding that perhaps it would be best to get out of the rain. Phasing into the second-story bathroom, he reverted to his human form. A few seconds later, the light flickered on and he jumped. Eliza was standing in the doorway. The two of them stared stupidly at each other for a while before Danny spoke up.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I _live _here, remember?" Eliza said slowly, as though talking to a three-year-old. "And I've got to go the bathroom. What happened to you?" she asked, looking him up and down critically. "Have you been outside?"

"No," said Danny automatically. Eliza looked at the large puddle of water beneath his feet and raised an eyebrow. "Um, I can explain," he said, laughing nervously.

"Oh, I don't doubt that," she said dryly. "Look, it's past midnight and I'm tired. So, if you get out and let me in, I'll save the interrogation for another time, okay?"

Danny nodded and slid past her in the hall. Something landed on his shoulder and he looked at the towel questioningly.

"Dry your hair," Eliza commanded. "Can't have you catching pneumonia, now, can I?" she said and closed the door.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Despite a midnight rendezvous with a certain blue nimrod, Danny woke up the next morning a little after eight (which is practically the crack of dawn for a teenager). Much to his relief, he did not have a cold and felt rather refreshed except for his back. May it never be said that sleeping on the floor does not cause extreme discomfort in the nether regions. Hoping that it would quit aching soon, he stood up and noticed that Jazz was still asleep. Finding it incredibly odd to be up before his sister, he walked down to a deserted kitchen.

No, that wasn't quite right- Eliza was sitting at the table, calmly watching him make his descent. The placemat opposite of her was set with a glass of orange juice and a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast.

"Good morning," she said brightly. "That's your breakfast over there. I've already eaten."

Danny sat down across from Eliza and glanced at her nervously. "Are you going to stare at me the whole time I'm eating?"

"No, that would be rude. I shall do the crossword," she said, pulling out part of a newspaper. "What's a five-letter word for 'horizontal'?"

Danny shrugged and ate his eggs. He had to admit, the Channings family sure had a knack for cooking.

"So," she said pleasantly after a minute.

"So," he agreed.

She leaned forward. "So, are you going to tell me what you were up to

last night or what?"

Danny coughed on his toast. "What do you mean?" he stuttered.

Smiling sweetly, Eliza said, "What do you _think _I mean?"

"I.... nothing! I wasn't up to anything!"

"Danny. How stupid do you think I am? Wait, don't answer that question." She sighed and tried a different approach. "Look, you were in my bathroom, soaking wet- I'm guessing that you were outside, though Lord only knows why- and something scared the heck out of you."

"I wasn't _scared_," Danny muttered.

"Whatever. You and I both know that something's happened, and I want to know what," she said.

He didn't meet her eyes. "I can't tell you," he said.

Eliza sighed but didn't press the subject any further. After Danny finished his breakfast, they sat in silence until their families woke up and prepared for the day ahead.

"Danny, Eliza, y'all ready to go?" Eric asked half an hour later.

She blinked. "Go?" she repeated.

"To the convention. Remember?"

Eliza glanced at Danny and got up from the table. "Sure. We're ready."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

According to Microsoft Word's handy-dandy word counter, this chapter (author's notes excluded) is 1,484 words long. Woot! Anyway, I've got a sore throat as I'm responding to the reviewers, so I hope that they are happy.

Silver Latias: Wow. You do have a weird family. You get this towel I "borrowed" from a Holliday Inn Express for your weirdness.

Shadowesque13: You suck! Get to work on OTA, slacker! You get an alarm clock that wakes you up with "Wake up, stupid!".

Getfuzzyfan04: Über-nifty indeed. You get a Get Fuzzy T-Shirt.

Wind Cat: Well, I'm glad that Wincat is appeased. Now Danny has lesss normalcy in his life! Poor boy. Will he NEVER get a break? You get a cat with goggles and a little scarf-thing.

PSDog: S'up, yo? Yeah, sucks that the forums went down. -- But now I've got my own, so cha! You get a rubber duckie.

This chapter is dedicated to my beta KimmaSato for finding all the icky-yucky mistakes I made. Next chapter, we _finally_ get to the convention. Ciao!


	5. The Convention Finally!

September 7, 2004: I'm late a day. Forgive me, sweet masses! I went to my friend Luna's house and we goofed off and my beta was late and.... well, you get the picture. This chapter really went off on its own. I think that I have a clear view of where I'm going in the story, and it just surprises me. This chapter is, without the author's notes, roughly 2,900 words and seven and one-half pages long- about 3/4 the length of the third chapter.

References in the last chapter- Invader Zim: the Box Ghost and Danny both said "impending doom", which is practically Zim's catchphrase; the Box Ghost's parable about boxes dying halfway through is reminiscent about a metaphor Bobby Goodspeed used that also died while explaining it to Addie in The Misfits by James Howe, as was eight o'clock being the crack of dawn for a teenager; and I am unable to find my reference for Time Stops for No Mouse by Michael Hoeye. If you can find it, I'll give you a cookie. It might be when Eliza was reading the crossword puzzle....

References in this chapter: Star Trek, Return to Sender, Lord of the Rings, and Michael Crichton's Timeline.

The OFtR is Dancers by Lizzy Rebel. It's a very, very sad fic with one-sided Tucker/Sam. http:www. fanfiction. net/s/ 2040954/1/.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City

Chapter Five: The Convention (Finally!)

Jazz, once again designated the driver of the GAV, was silently fuming behind the wheel. She was ticked because she was going to the convention and her mother, using the reason that Katrina needed help to look after Todd, who woke up with a sore throat, was not. Jazz suspected that Maddie hadn't really wanted to go in the first place. It didn't help matters much that Jack wouldn't shut up.

"This is so exciting!" Jack said happily from the front seat. He was holding a box in his arms and gave it a squeeze. "I've been waiting all year for this!"

"You've already said that five times since we left the house," Danny said. He, Eliza, and Eric were sitting in the second seat. "Thanks again for letting us stay at your place, Mr. Channings," he added.

Eric waved a hand dismissively. "Think nothing of it. Our home is your home. Anyway, I hear that your father is an inventor."

"Yeah, he's the best one I know," Danny said.

"Well, I don't know if I'd say the best," Jack said, slightly bashfully. "You're mom's not too shabby in her work."

"Okay, then you're the best inventor I know besides Mom," Danny amended.

"I also heard," Eric continued, "that you're interested in ghosts, Jack."

"Yes. Yes, I am. I combine my interests to create devices to help mankind." Ignoring Jazz's rolled eyes, Jack passed the box back to Eric. Eliza peered inside and pointed at one of the gadgets.

"That one looks like a high-tech lunch thermos," she said critically.

"That's because it is!" said Jack. "That's the Fenton Thermos, used to catch ghosts."

"Sounds like Pokemon," Eliza muttered and started digging through the box. She uncovered a small, warped arch made from metal and held it up. A green light lit up on one side and the device started humming.

"Fenton Boomerang. It's used to follow and attack ghosts," Jack explained. The Boomerang hovered out of Eliza's hands and floated to Danny, beginning to gyrate lazily. Danny tried to swat it away, but it stayed there with dogged persistence.

"Uh.... are you sure it's a good idea to have that thing on?" Jazz asked, looking in the car mirror nervously.

"Of course!" her dad said "Its function as a weapon is completely useless unless someone throws it at a ghost."

Eric reached across and took the Boomerang out of the air. "This is an amazing piece of engineering," he said, examining it in his hands. It gently tried to tug itself out of his hands, but he kept a firm grip on it. "I'm assuming that you installed some sort of perpetual-motion device to keep it running?"

"Actually, it's got a self-propelling engine," Jack said, grabbing the Boomerang from Eric. "Took forever to get the schematics right." Since the Boomerang wasn't in as close proximity to Danny, the green light flickered off and it drifted down to Jack's lap.

"So, where's this place the convention's being held at?" Jazz asked.

"It's at the civic center near downtown Star City," Eric said. "Turn left here onto the highway...."

While her dad gave Jazz directions, Eliza looked through the box with Danny. When he pointed out the Ghost Gabber and Weasel, she gave a short laugh.

"Not very creative at names, huh?" she commented.

Danny shrugged. "Well, there's only so many ways to name an invention. Usually, Dad christens something by slapping 'Ghost' or 'Fenton' in front of it."

She picked up what looked like a small water gun filled with green goop. "What's this, a stolen laser from Star Trek?" she asked.

"I think it's the Fenton Ghost Laser, but I've never seen it before," Danny said. The green liquid sloshed around inside with a sinister look about it.

"Looks dangerous," she commented and dropped it back in the box. "How far are we from the convention?"

"Almost there. The traffic's really light for this time of day," Jazz commented. She was about to merge onto the highway when a black Xterra pulled rudely in front of their car. The GAV came to a sudden, screeching halt and the five of them were thrown against their seatbelts.

"I had the right of way, you jerk!" Jazz yelled, honking her horn. The driver rolled down his window and casually waved back.

"Jerk," she repeated.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Besides nearly crashing into a SUV, they got to the civic center without incident. The civic center was a large, stone-colored building that hosted plays, sports games, carnivals, and the like for Star City and the surrounding counties. Though it was only a little after ten, the parking lot was almost full. Jazz pulled into a parking space beside a truck with "Beam me up, Scotty" spray painted on a door and a car covered in solar panels.

"Wow. These cars make ours positively normal," she said.

"That's like, one of them miracle things," Eliza said.

They piled out of the car and Danny took the box full of his father's inventions. The Boomerang started to whir when he neared it, but stuffing it underneath all the other gadgets was enough to keep it from giving Danny any bodily harm. When they neared a familiar-looking vehicle, Jack tapped his daughter on the shoulder. "Isn't that the car that nearly ran us off the road?"

Jazz glared daggers at it. "Yes, and it's a good thing that the driver isn't still in it. Grr, that stupid jerk...."

Eliza turned out her pockets and sighed. "Sorry, Jazz. I don't have anything you can slash his tires with."

"That's probably a good thing," Eric commented.

"How do you know it was a guy?" Danny asked.

"Because," Eliza said, pointing to the license plate; it read GRL GTTR, "I really don't want to think about the alternate."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

The civic center was heated, providing a nice contrast with the cold, rainy weather outside. After Eric found a map of the complex, he led them through the milling crowd to the main auditorium.

"One of my buddies from high school has a job here," he explained as he waved to a security guard.

The guard, a balding man of forty-something, came over. "Hey, Eric," he greeted

"Hal," Eric said, nodding cordially. "Some gathering, huh?"

Hal rolled his eyes. "You're telling me. I had to break up some Trekkies from having a revival on the roof." There was a large crash followed by someone shouting, "You'll never get me alive, copper!" and Hal rolled his eyes. "I gotta go," he said, dashing off.

"'Trekkies on the roof'?" Eliza repeated, snorting.

"Ah, the life of a security guard. Never dull," Eric said, moving on. "It's a bit of a tragedy that Hal's got a PhD in medicine and stuck in a job like that."

"Why does he work here if he's got a degree?" Jazz asked.

"Well, he's always sided with some controversial ideas, and after having a rather heated debate with his first boss.... a lot of people just won't hire him. Anyway," he said, looking down at the map, "they've got lectures in the auditorium, demonstrations in the arena, and general information in the main room."

"Can we hurry and find a place to put this stuff? Please? My arms are falling off," Danny said, shifting the box awkwardly in his arms.

Jack took the box from his son. "I'm going to the arena to show off," he announced, walking away.

Sighing, Eric handed Eliza the map. "I'm going to make sure he doesn't get lost. I'll meet up with you guys at twelve right at this spot," he said and followed Jack.

"So...." Eliza said looking at the map. "Three teenagers left to their own devices with three hours to burn...." There was a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I wonder how much trouble we can get into?"

"It depends. Are we near the control booth?" Danny asked.

Jazz, who had her arms crossed, said, "As long as you two are with me, you're not going to run off and cause trouble."

"Darn," said Danny, snapping his fingers. He followed Jazz, who was off in search of something with which to occupy her time.

"How quick do you think we can ditch Ms. Responsible?" Eliza asked.

Danny grinned. "Only one way to find out...."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Jazz walked out of the bathroom. "Okay, you guys, let's-" She stopped, unable to find either of the younger teenagers in the crowd. "Danny? Eliza? Get back here, now!"

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

"I think that your sister's calling us," Eliza said. She and Danny had snuck around a corner when Jazz went into the restroom.

Danny shook his head. "Naw, it was just a truck backfiring," he assured her. "Anyway, now that we're free, what do you want to do?"

"I dunno, what do you wanna do?"

"I asked you first!"

"That you did," Eliza conceded. "I've consulted the Map of Knowledge, and we can be bored with talk about aliens, ghosts, and other horrors pulled from Scooby-Doo."

"Hey, don't knock Scooby! He's cool!" Danny protested.

"Danny, a fourteen-year-old into Scooby-Doo is just sad. No wonder you don't have a girlfriend." Eliza had started to wander off in a seemingly random direction and Danny had to hurry to catch up with her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, lightly jogging behind her.

"What do you mean, 'what's that supposed to mean?'?" Eliza asked.

"I mean, that was a pretty low attack on your part."

Eliza stuck out her tongue. "Well, it's true, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but-"

"So what, may I ask, is the problem?"

Danny sighed. "It wasn't very nice," he said.

"Aw, is little Danny's feelings hurt?" Eliza teased.

"Very funny. Ha ha."

"Ha ha indeed! All right, it was pretty dumb. Sorry," she apologized.

"That's better." Danny stole the map from her hands and looked at it. After a moment's hesitation, he led them back the way they came.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he handed the map back.

"The main gathering room," Danny said.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because that's where all the cool stuff is," he explained. They skirted around a large crowd in front of the concession stand and through a door into the stairwell.

"Cool stuff being....?" she said, following Danny up the stairs.

"Cool stuff being not being bored to death with lectures and not being killed in an explosion at the demos," he clarified. Being the gentleman he was, Danny held the door of the second landing for Eliza and gave a mock bow as she walked through.

"So I take it that you've been to one of these convention things before," Eliza said, swatting at him as she walked past.

"Just once," he said, falling into step behind her. "We went to the one in Baltimore when I was ten. Jazz has been to a couple of others with our parents and didn't like them at all."

"Speaking of which, I wonder how the old gel's doing?" Eliza wondered.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

'The old gel', usually referred to as Jazz Fenton, spent about thirty seconds panicking over where Danny and Eliza had run off. Various scenarios played through her mind from a serial kidnapper to a rogue ghost, all of which left her with the blame. She then realized that this was a public place, that her charges were (more or less) responsible pre-adults, and that Danny could handle himself. Jazz's anxiety gave way to indignation that her brother would just run off on her like that, even if he had done it a million times before. She was all prepared to go storming angrily after him when she realized that she didn't know where they went.

_Great. This is just great,_ Jazz grumbled to herself. _I can't even keep two teenagers under control for a few minutes._

"Excuse me. Are you lost?"

"Huh?" Jazz said intelligently. A teenager around sixteen stood in front of her, patiently awaiting her answer. The cuffs of his blue jeans were long enough to partially obscure his fairly new Reeboks and a strange-looking watch (a Rolex, Jazz supposed) hung lightly on his left hand. A silver chain looped around his neck, tucked neatly between his orange turtleneck and the first button of his Neo-styled jacket. Dark gold hair fell in short spikes around his head, framing his deep purple eyes.

"You looked a bit confused, and I was wondering if I could help," he said, flashing a smile.

Jazz felt her knees go weak and, hoping she appeared casual, leaned against the wall to keep from falling down. "Actually, my brother ran off. I'm supposed to be looking after him, but I don't know where he went...." She shrugged. "So, yeah, I guess I am a little lost."

"How old is your brother?" he asked.

"Um.... uh, well he's.... fourteen," Jazz stuttered, hoping she didn't sound as moronic as she thought.

"Well, there are only so many places a fourteen-year-old would want to go. I'm sure he'll turn up soon, but I'll help you look for him, if you want," the boy offered. As an afterthought, he said, "I'm Conley," and extended his hand.

"Jazz Fenton," she said, shaking it.

"I imagine that would be short for Jasmine," Conley said.

Jazz nodded mutely.

"It's a beautiful name," he said, bringing her hand up and lightly brushing it with his lips.

"Thank you...." she said breathlessly.

There was a glint in Conley's eyes of some unknown emotion. "No," he said, "Thank you."

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny and Eliza wandered through the displays, not really paying attention to what the people were saying- "window shopping", as Maddie called it. They stayed to listen to a man and a woman have a heated argument in Vulcan with a crowd of Trekkies standing around, giving their meaningful contributions to the conversation. Not that far away, nearly the same scenario was being played out, except this time the people spoke Elvish and were surrounded by people with T-shirts reading such phrases as "Frodo Lives!", "Gandalf for President", "Boromir, Die for Your Sins" and "I Party With the Mirkwood Elves".

"I think that we've entered the realm of science-fiction," Danny said, pointing out an old 1950's styled TV playing a rerun of the Twilight Zone.

"I concur. The Sci-Fi Channel must be making a fortune with this convention," Eliza said.

Danny and Eliza came upon a group of people oogling over the contents of the table. Pushing their way to the front, they saw that it was devoid of anything besides a silver, pod-shaped device. Beneath the table was a large, black box connected to a power outlet with multiple cables. The station was manned by two people in their late twenties, both of whom wore slim Rolex wristwatches.

"By rerouting the electric charge from the solar cell," the man said, patting the box under the table, "we have been able to tap into the unused power of quantum particles with the silver device you see here. My lovely assistant Jereni-"

"Ahem," the woman, sitting on a stool with a laptop, interrupted as she glared with aqua eyes.

"-who happens to own the device and the technology behind it," the mad added, "will be starting the demonstration." He held up a nickel for all to see and placed it in front of the pod. Giving Jereni the thumbs up, he stepped back. "Now watch closely," the man said, a sparkle in his brown eyes.

Jereni tapped something into the computer. The black box began to hum, quietly at first and slowly getting louder and louder. Jerking sharply, the front section of the pod opened up to reveal a sort of miniature laser. It shot a green beam forward, hitting the coin. Taking the blast and actually lifting up into the air, the nickel glowed brightly for a moment before fading from sight.

There was stunned silence, broken only by Eliza's gasp of, "Cool...."

The crowd then applauded and Gale grinned with relief, smoothing back his blonde hair. "Almost thought it wouldn't work this time." He explained that they had transported the coin to a nonspecific point in the multiverse, which Jereni translated to mean they sent the coin to another dimension. Everyone oohed and ahhed appreciatively, then promptly left.

"Well, that went well," Gale said sarcastically.

"Don't be so negative. The demonstration went over fine," Jereni said, closing the laptop.

"Still, it would have been nice to get an offer," he said wistfully. Noticing that the two kids were still hanging around, he said, "Hey."

Danny started to reply when Eliza stepped forward. "That was really neat!" she said. "I get that you made the coin disappear, but how'd you do it?"

"We don't really give that information out-"

"I'd be happy to show you," Jereni said, interrupting Gale. Getting off the stool and sitting the laptop on a nearby table, she beckoned to Eliza and started to give a basic explanation.

"So much for the tricks of the trade being a secret," Gale muttered. He checked his watch and did a double take. Eyes wide, he glanced towards Jereni and Eliza before turning his gaze to Danny.

"Um.... heheh...." Danny said, nervously rubbing his shoulder. He found the knowing look in Gale's eyes to be discomforting.

"You certainly have a lot of nerve," Gale said quietly, "to come here."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Danny asked.

Gale's eye narrowed. "With what you are."

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Fwee! That was FUN. Okay, all of the science except for the part about sending the coin to another universe was made up on the spot. is proud of herself I dedicate this chapter to the recently departed Danny Phantom Message Board. May it rest in peace. All those wishing to get in touch with the maybe ten people I was able to round up from the DPMB, go to http: outofthinair .proboards25. com/ index. cgi.

PSDog: Yes. That does suck. A lot. And not in a good way. Sorry, mind temporarily in the gutter. I hope that you give George lots of walks. You get a Rubber Duckie Bathtub Set to make sure he is squeaky-clean.

cheerin4danny: No, the forums are dead. Le sigh. You get an altheiometer (like a compass, except with pretty pictures) to play with. Or sell on eBay.

BellaVolo: You are simply too kind, m'dear. You get a three-year-old poster of Aaron Carter that I'm ashamed to still own.

Blue Wind Ninja 016: Cha, glad you reviewed, buddeh. You get the first season of Power Rangers on DVD with special features.

Phantomhawk422: Yesh. It's up in all it's now-five chaptered glory. Squee. You get a spoon with the letters "TNWM" on the handle.

That's all for now! Drive safely, folks!


	6. Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot

September 13, 2004: Mein Gott, I actually got it up on time! This was quite a chapter for me. I wrote most of it from last Monday to Friday, writing four pages on Friday. Total word count: 3,330. Page count: 10. Warm fuzzy feelings: Priceless. There are some things money- blinks Cha? Anyway, I'm working on a new time-format so y'all know when something happens. Hope it'll make for easier reading.

References in the last chapter- Star Trek: the people talking in Vulcan; Return to Sender: "You'll never get me alive, copper!" was one of Colette's many.... unusual responses; LotR was the shirts with Tolkein-related quotes; Michael Crichton's Timeline was the whole thing with the quantum physics. What, you thought I made it up? Go Google it- quantum physics are quite real indeed and fun to play with in my spare time.

References in this chapter: FOP, Star Trek, Train, and LotR. Also, outside of the actual fic, find and translate the German phrase that appears twice!

The OFtR is "Like Mom and Apple Pie", a DP humor fic by ZAGRH8R. You can find it at http: www. fanfiction .net/s /2038135 /1/.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City  
Chapter Six: Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot

**10:34 AM**

"So, what brings you to the convention, Jazz?" Conley asked as he glanced back at the girl following.

"My parents dragged us here for the weekend," Jazz said, making a face. "They told us about it Wednesday and we left the next day. It was really sudden."

"When you say 'we', do you mean your brother and yourself?"

Jazz nodded. "Yeah, me and Danny. Do you know how annoying it is to be stuck in a car with my brother for five hours?"

"I can imagine," Conley said. "I had a few brothers and sisters of my own."

"'Had'?" Jazz repeated.

"Have," he amended. "I have."

"Is your family here, too?" she asked.

Conley shrugged. "No. I'm here on my own."

"Your parents let you come here by yourself? How old are you?"

"Sixteen, same as you. I saw you on the road this morning," he explained. "I assumed that we were close in age."

They had navigated through the civic center to the top entrance of the indoor arena. Conley held the door open for Jazz and smiled at her as she walked through. Jazz felt the beginnings of a return smile tugging at her lips when she started to scan the room from her vantage point.

The room was filled to the absolute brim with people. Half the arena was reserved for the larger exhibits like a larger-than-life-sized robot and a huge satellite dish that shouldn't have possibly been able to fit through the doors. People crowded the stands around this part, watching in an almost reverent silence as a solar-powered hovercar was brought out. Others were milling about the other side where the smaller displays had been set up and the food vendors were located. She caught a glimpse of her father showing off his inventions to a group of diffident flock of tourists.

"Come on, I see my dad," Jazz said, picking her way through the stands. Conley stayed close, keeping an eye on the proceedings around them. When they arrived on the ground of the arena, Jack spotted the two immediately.

"Jazz! I was just explaining the schematics of the Fenton Thermos to these fine people!" he announced, voice booming in an echo over the area. "Come over here and bring your friend!"

Those fine people, seeing their chance, quietly slunk away while Jack was preoccupied with his daughter. A lot of attention was directed in Jazz's general direction, making her cheeks heat up. "Sorry about this," she muttered as she introduced Conley to her father.

"Conley, eh?" Jack said, peering critically at the boy. To give him credit, Conley matched the older man's gaze and managed a look of polite detachment. "No, you don't seem to be a ghost, but you're eyes _are_ a bit odd."

"Dad, they're the exact same color as Sam's," Jazz said, exasperated, but realized that wasn't necessarily correct; Danny's gothic friend had pale lavender irises whereas Conley's were darker, more like an amethyst. It was a very attractive color.... Jazz gave herself a mental slap in the face to come back from lovey-dovey land.

"That's true," said Jack, and he pulled back from his examination. He frowned, just noticing he had lost his captive audience. "Darn, now I have to find more people to listen to me talk!"

"Yeah, don't let us keep you from that all-important goal," Jazz said as she attempted to sneak off without being noticed.

"I know! You two can listen to me practice my lecture!" Jack said, as though he had presented them with some sort of treat.

Knowing how quick her father could settle into a routine of dull monotony, Jazz thought fast. "Look, a ghost!" she pointed.

"Where?" Jack said, spinning around.

"Keep looking," she said, ushering herself and Conley into some empty seats in the stadium out of Jack's sight.

"That was low," Conley said, chuckling.

"Hey, if you wanted to sit through one of his lectures, be my guest," Jazz said.

"I've no doubt they're quite tedious," he said, taking a seat beside her.

"Heh. You got that right." She was acutely aware of their shoulders almost, but not quite, touching.

Eric Channings showed up, effectively cutting possible awkwardness on Jazz's part. "Hey, Jazz," he called up to her "Where are Danny and Eliza?" he asked.

"Uh...." she said. "Not.... here?"

This caught Jack's attention. "They're not here?" he asked.

"I can see that," Eric said dryly. "I'm guessing that they pulled the slip on you?"

"While I was in the bathroom," Jazz said sheepishly.

"You lost them?" Jack asked incredulously.

"They ran off, Dad. No big deal."

"It is so a big deal! They could be lost, or hurt, or attacked by ghosts...."

"Is your father planning on a ghost showing up?" Conley asked aside to Jazz.

"Planning?" Jazz snorted. "He's practically depending on it, if he wants to prove that any of his stupid gadgets work."

Smirking, Conley said, "I take it that you don't exactly share your father's interest."

"Darn right I don't," she said, glowering.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**10: 37 AM**

Danny didn't need to be a genius to know that he was in trouble. He hadn't even done anything, and this man picked out his secret with ease. Gulping nervously, the boy took a step backwards.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Danny said, trying to keep his voice level.

Once more, Gale's eyes flickered to his watch. "I think you do."

Curious despite himself, Danny looked at the Rolex, only to find that it didn't tell time at all. Instead of a face and hands, there was a black screen that showed moving pinpoints. All of the dots were yellow, save for one in bright green.

"This watch is designed to detect every being in the immediate vicinity," Gale said. "Even those that are not exactly.... human."

"I'm human!" snapped Danny defiantly. He glanced at Eliza, who still had her back turned and was engrossed in whatever Jereni was showing.

Gale chuckled. "I never said that you weren't, lad. The ones I was speaking of are blue. I've only met one other person who shares your color."

"Who?" Danny asked. _There's only one other halfa I know of...._

Shaking his head, Gale said, "That's not important right now. What's important is keeping someone else from finding out what you are."

"Wait, so you aren't going to tell anyone that I'm half ghost?"

Gale looked surprised. "Oh, so _that's_ what it is. I knew it was something, but...." He trailed off and shrugged. "No, of course not. People would ask how we found you, and this technology isn't exactly supposed to exist. There wouldn't be anything in it for us at all."

"How can you help me?" Danny asked. "And what's the catch?"

"Ah, I was wondering when we'd get to that part," Gale said, taking a wallet out of his back pocket. Opening it, he took out what looked like a Band-Aid. "All you have to do is wear this."

"You're kidding me," Danny said, taking the bandage and examining it. Besides being a bit thicker in the middle than customary, it had no unusual characteristics.

"There's a microchip between the pad and the adhesive," Gale explained. "It will cloak you from any and all sensors. You will be invisible in every way but sight." He saw that Danny was still a bit dubious, so he said, "Look, put it on. If you don't disappear from my watch, then you know that I'm lying."

Though still not totally trusting this stranger, Danny knew he wasn't in any position to decline help. Keeping his eyes on the watch, he put the bandage under the left sleeve of his T-shirt. When it was securely hidden, the green dot on Gale's watch faded to yellow.

"That's odd," the man said, frowning. "It doesn't completely mask your presence, just the ghost part." He turned as though to ask Jereni something, but she was still wrapping it up with Eliza.

"She doesn't know about me," Danny said, referring to the girl. "Please don't tell her...."

"Fair enough," the older man said, nodding his head. "You don't tell anyone about our technology, and we don't tell anyone about you." He held out his hand. After a moment's hesitation, Danny did the same and they shook.

"Hey, Danny! Whatcha doin'?" Eliza laughed when Danny jumped and turned to face her. "Ha. Scared you, didn't I?"

"No, you didn't-"

"Okay, I'm bored. Let's go somewhere else," she said.

"Sure...." he said, walking after her. He turned and mouthed "thank you" to Gale, who nodded.

"Bright girl," Jereni remarked as the two teens went out of sight.

"Hmm."

"What happened?" she asked.

Gale looked down at his wrist thoughtfully. "The watches seem to work fine," he said.

"I know. I'm the one who made them," she said as she twisted her long, brown hair absently. "Is everything all right?"

"I think," Gale said softly, "that things have just gotten a lot more complicated."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**10:40 AM**

"I didn't know that there would be such a crowd," Conley said, glancing at all the people milling about.

"Neither did I," Jazz said. "Who knew that all this paranormal junk would attract so many people?" she asked.

There was a slight pause. "It's not junk," he said.

"Well, I mean, I know it's real and all," she dismissed, "but there's so much more you could do with your time." She heard him take a sharp intake of breath. He was staring at his watch, disbelief etched onto his features.

"What is it?" she asked.

Aware that he was now under scrutiny, Conley carefully neutralized his expression. "Nothing," he said, a bit gruffly. "The thing just needs new batteries...."

Before she could get a good look at it, Conley pulled the sleeve of his turtleneck down, effectively obscuring the watch from view. He looked at Jazz pointedly, as though daring her to ask any questions.

"Sorry for wondering," she said, rolling her eyes.

"It's quite all right. I forgive you."

Jazz snorted. "You are just so sure of yourself, aren't you? You think that I won't ask about what just happened."

Shrugging expressively, he said, "That's because you won't. Because you think that it's really none of your business- which is absolutely correct, by the way- and you're afraid of coming across as a busybody."

"Really?" Jazz said, trying to mask her surprise at the fact that he read her so well. "And why would I be afraid of that?"

"Because," he said, gracing her with a smile, "you're afraid that you might unintentionally push me away."

Jazz rocked back in her chair "I am not," she muttered, refusing to meet Conley's eyes.

"You keep telling yourself that," he said, giving her knee a light pat. "I've got some things I need to do." Conley stood up and stretched. "I'll be back," he told her and walked down the aisle to the floor of the stadium.

"Nice kid," Jack commented, watching him as he exited the arena.

"Shut up," Jazz moaned, leaning forward and covering her face as a light blush crept up her cheeks.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**11:17 AM**

Ever since the confrontation with Gale, Danny had been on edge. He wasn't sure how much faith he placed in the cloaking device or the man's ability to keep a secret. The fact that he had been so easily detected scared him; Danny hadn't realized that at a convention such as this, there would be more people who specialized in the same area as his parents. However, he knew that at this point there wasn't much he could do, so he tried to turn his mind to other manners.

"I'm hungry," Danny whined as they passed a hot dog vendor

"I _know_ Danny," Eliza sighed. "That's the third time you've said it."

"That's cause it's true. I'm _hungry_."

"Well, I'm sorry!" she snapped. "It's not like I have any money or anything! Dad has the wallet."

"So? We'll just go find our parents, explain to them that Jazz ran off, and mooch a couple bucks off them. Easy."

"No, Danny. Not easy. How are we supposed to get from here," she pointed at the ground, "to there?" She made a vague gesture in a random direction.

"Duh, we look at the map."

"Do you _have_ the map?"

"What, I thought you had it!"

Eliza rolled her eyes. "No, you're the one who brought us here in the first place."

"But I gave it to you when those Trekkie evangelists started following us."

"And I gave it back after I finished talking with Jereni."

Danny blinked. "You did?

"Yes, Danny."

"Are you _sure_?"

"Yes, Danny. I'm sure."

"Oh. I don't have it now."

"Well, in that case, we're hopelessly lost."

Shrugging, Danny said, "I'm sure that we could find our way back to the entrance.... eventually...."

The redhead wasn't listening. "We'll wander around here for the rest of forever, living off what tourists give us and the leftover pizza in the security guard's lounge."

"Don't be so- did you say lounge?" Danny asked.

"Yeah. That's where all the controls for this main room are. You know," she said when Danny stared at her blankly, "the room with the light switches and the stereo system."

Danny pondered this a bit. "Could you get us in?"

"Sure, I mean anyone could.... just...." Eliza stopped. A decidedly evil grin spread on her face. She grabbed Danny's arm and dragged the protesting boy off.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**11:32 PM**

Despite having "Authorized Personnel Only" stamped on the door, the lounge was surprisingly easy to get into. It had, as Eliza put it, taken all the fun out of sneaking around in the back of the civic center in the first place. It was Danny who found the fridge, stocked with soda, cake, and leftover pizza. They decided that there wasn't enough to sustain a group of security guards, but certainly enough to interest a couple of fourteen-year-olds. After thoroughly clearing the fridge, Eliza and Danny explored the control booth. It had all sorts of fun knobs and buttons to play with.

"Man, there's nothing on," Eliza complained as she turned the dial on the radio. "Country.... rap.... Backstreet Boys.... All we got is crap since Z101 died."

"We could start our own band," Danny suggested.

"We could. It depends. Say 's'up'."

"What? Why?" Danny asked.

"Just say it," Eliza said irritably.

"Um.... s'up?"

"Perfect! You've got the makings of a drummer, I can tell. Oooh! Save the Day!" she said, as the radio picked up her favorite song.

"What?" Danny asked.

"Only the coolest song since Icky Vicky!" she said, rolling her eyes and starting to sing along. _"You'll be standing in the sunshine/I'll be standing right here in the rain/You save me and I will save the day...."_

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**11:47**

Wherever Conley went, he didn't stay long; he'd gotten back just a few minutes ago and struck up a conversation with, of all people, Jack. Jack was delighted to have someone take a genuine interest in his work and wasted no time in giving the teen a full run-down on every invention he'd brought along. Far from being of the so-how-does-this-doohickey-work kind, Conley's questions showed impressive knowledge in the little-appreciative field of paranormal mechanics. Jazz personally didn't know what he saw in it; already having sat through an explanation of the various Fenton inventions (twice), it was all she could do to keep from dozing off right then and there.

"When you say that the Ghost Laser doesn't need a power source, does that mean that it's powered by a ghost's own presence?" Conley prompted as he hefted the object in his hands. Though obviously a weapon, the guards had let it go since it had the resemblance of a cheap water gun. (Also, they thought it more prevalent to deal with the Tolkein fans that brought their own crossbows and broadswords).

Jack nodded. "That's right! Unless there's a ghost to supply it with an aura, the Laser won't fire. It's got an automatic targeting system, but it can be done manually if there's more than one ghost nearby."

They continued to talk, paying absolutely no attention whatsoever to Jazz. She was bored, which was not a good thing. When she got bored, her mind tended to wander onto the topic that she least wanted to think about. At the moment, it was Conley.

She was crushing on him, wasn't she? It was insane. She hadn't known him for more than an hour and he was already invading her thoughts. It wasn't as though she were prone to falling in love with every cute guy she saw; on the contrary, she hadn't given any boy more than a second thought in her life. But now....

_I don't even know what he's like,_ she thought. _All I know is that he's got blond hair and purple eyes and a great sense of style and a handsome face.... snap out of it!_ she commanded silently.

She remembered the odd way he had acted with his watch. The evasion in Conley's voice had surprised her. It was probably from hearing Danny make excuses about where he'd been, but Jazz had gotten very good at telling when someone lied. _See?_ she thought. _Something's up with Conley. He's means trouble. There's something he's not telling me. Of course, why would he? We just met. He's so mysterious...._

"This is all some weird teenage thing," Jazz rationalized, stealing another glance in Conley's direction. "I'm just looking for companionship. Hormones are kicking in. He's the nearest sixteen-year-old vaguely hominoid male. It's nothing serious...." Conley caught her eye and winked, softly smiling.

_Then why does my heart stop whenever he looks at me?_

A crackling over the intercom interrupted her musings. "Uh.... would the owner of a yellow Hummer please move to a space that's not next to the Greenpeace van? They're threatening to riot."

"Go on, say it!" another voice came through the P/A system.

"No, it's stupid-"

"Go on!" the second voice encouraged.

The first voice sighed, and said, "We would like to remind all theatre patrons that penguins are not allowed in the orchestra pit."

The microphone squeaked as a girl's choked laughter came through. "Please keep your flightless fowls on a leash at all times," she giggled, "and make sure that you pick up after them."

The two cracked up and the P/A went dead. Most people's expressions could be summed up as whiskey, tango, and foxtrot. A smattering of laughter went up in the arena as the sheer absurdity of what happened sunk in.

"I recognized those voices," Jazz said as the security guard known as Hal came striding up to Eric.

"Uh, Eric?" Hal said. "We've got a bit of a problem...."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**11:56 AM**

Conley didn't hear all of the exchange between Hal and Eric, but he did hear the latter's exclamation of, "They did _what_?" Eric relayed the news to Jack, who scratched his head. He muttered something about kids in the control booth and followed Hal out of the arena.

Jazz came down from her seat and asked, "What was that about?"

"I think that your brother has been found," Conley said.

"Figures they'd attract a security guard," Jazz groaned, running after them.

When he was sure her back was turned and that he wouldn't be noticed, Conley took the Ghost Laser and placed it in an inside pocket of his jacket. It took only a few seconds to smooth the out fabric so that the Laser was completely concealed. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the exit.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Sweeet. This was fun to write. Okay, "whiskey, tango, foxtrot" is WTF in the phonetic alphabet, which means what the.... freak. Yeah. What the freak. Uh-huh. This chapter is dedicated to my algebra teacher who taught me the phonetic alphabet thing. You rock, Mr. A!

**Aura Spectre:** nice catch with the HDM reference! I can't call myself a fan as I hated The Amber Spyglass, but The Golden Compass is one of my favorite books. You get the subtle knife.

**cheerin4danny: **yay for eBay, huh? Give it to Aura if you really don't want it. But if you really want it, you can have Lyra's alethiometer carrying case.

**Silver Latias:** Mein Gott, I don't think I've ever gotten such a compliment.... No, no, I am not worthy of being compared to the fic that is "Take a Look in the Mirror". No. Don't go there. Aw, what am I saying? I like the praise. You get a grappling hook and three feet of rope to help you with future cliffhangers.

**PSDog:** ....you had sugar, didn't you? Ha ha. Now that your duck is clean, I'm sure that you wouldn't want him to be hungry, huh? I'm giving you a pack of Rubber Duck Food Seeds that will grow into Rubber Duck Food Trees.

**Shadowesque13:** No worries, all is forgiven. Yes, Conley needs to be drawn. Now. With swiftness. You get a poke in the head.

**Wind Cat:** Yes, Conley has a cool-yet-vaguely-creepy air about him, which shall only intensify in the next chapter. And the one after that. At least, that's my plan. Jazz was right. Again. Gee, who _didn't_ see that one coming? You get a pen and pencil set.

**Firehedgehog: **Sweet, you write Digimon 02/03 crossovers! That makes me happy. You get the second and third season of Digimon on DVD.

Thank you all for your support. I can only tell you that things are gonna get more exciting from here on out. I'm starting a new section at the bottom of this author's note that features YOUR guesses on what will happen next. In case you get really close to what I'm planning, I'd rather you send predictions to my email at to keep from spoiling it for anyone else, but I'll accept them with reviews, too.

_!Hasta luego! _


	7. Secret's Out

September 20, 2004: Okay. I'm telling you all right now that I am not feeling so well at the moment. I had a close thing to one of those breakdowns that you see on TV all the time. Really want to know more? I detail it in my blog: http:www. livejournal .com /users/ flashingspirit/. Luckily, I finished this chapter on Saturday, so my writing skills weren't thrown down the toilet.

What I'm trying to say is this: don't be surprised if I miss next week's update. I'm really not in the mood to write (or do anything, for that matter). I'll address the reviewers and all that other good stuff next chapter. So, _hasta luego_.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City  
Chapter Seven: Secret's Out

**12:13 PM**

"This is so much fun," Eliza laughed. "Who'da thunk that breaking into a lounge for security guards and messing with the control panel would be so much fun?"

"We'll probably be arrested for breaking and entering," Danny said.

"Hey, it took me less than seven seconds to pick the lock," she protested. "Therefore, it doesn't count as breaking and entering. Anyway, it's not like- crap."

"It's not like crap?" Danny asked, turning around to see what she was looking at. Jack, Eric, and Jazz were standing in the doorway, looking at the duo in a very ticked-off manner.

"Um.... hi there," Eliza said, giving a weak grin.

"Hello," Eric responded. "Maybe you'd like to tell us why y'all're in here?"

"We were just, um.... Danny, help me out, here," Eliza hissed out the side of her mouth.

"All Eliza's idea," he said, pointing a finger.

"Tattler," she muttered.

"So it was you two on the P/A," Jazz said.

"Also Eliza's idea," Danny said.

"It doesn't matter whose idea it was," Eric said. "What matters is that-"

"Hey! Who ate all the pizza?" Hal yelled from the back of the lounge.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**1:28 PM**

"What you two did was very irresponsible," Eric said.

"We know."

"You shouldn't have run off from Jazz like that."

"We know."

"You've got to promise not to do something like that again."

"We know."

Since Danny and Eliza really didn't _do_ anything in the lounge besides use the intercom system, their dads couldn't really get mad. However, that didn't stop Eric from lecturing them on their way home. Maddie was a bit surprised when they came back so early, but she was glad to have their help with rounding up a hyper Todd. It turned out that the nine-year-old hadn't really been sick but had only faked it so he could stay home and watch the Crash Nebula marathon on TV. He had somehow gotten into Eliza's room and found her secret stash of candy and was now, quite literally, bouncing off the walls. Needless to say, Katrina wasn't too pleased with her second-born at this point. After sending Todd up to his room, ("I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it!") she collapsed onto one of the chairs.

"Tough day?" Eric asked.

Katrina snorted. "Tough? That boy didn't give me as much trouble at birth as he has today."

Eliza stifled a giggle and headed upstairs.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**4:56 PM**

"So, how is it in the backcountry of Virginia?" Sam asked.

"It's been weird, let me tell you," Danny said, shifting his the phone as he hunted through his suitcase for a clean pair of jeans. "First Dad loses our hotel reservations, then we couldn't get a room.... we ended up running into an old friend of Mom's, and she's letting us stay for a few days."

"What a coincidence," the goth girl said dryly.

"Anyway," Danny lowered his voice, "Has anything happened since I was gone?"

"Well, we haven't had an all-out ghost attack, if that's what you're asking, but-" Sam was cut off by a voice yelling something that sounded an awful lot like, "I am the Box Ghost!" in the background.

"Go away, you moron! I'm trying to talk to Danny!" Sam snapped. "Sorry about that. He's been hanging around me and Tucker for the past few days. It's driving me crazy!"

"How'd he get there?" Danny wondered. "He was here last night, I swear."

"Really? Hey, Box Ghost! Were you stalking Danny?" The ghost's reply was muffled, but Sam translated it as an affirmative.

"He said something about another ghost who's come after me," the black-haired boy explained. "Apparently, this one is here, in Star City."

"Well, what's his name?"

"I dunno, I wasn't told."

"So, you don't have a clue where he is right now?" asked Sam.

"Nope. There hasn't been any sign of any ghost down here, but I wouldn't doubt that this paranormalist convention would attract _someone_."

"You've just got to keep your eyes open, Danny. I wish that we were there to help."

"Help how?" Danny asked. "You and Tucker would only become targets, and I won't let that happen."

"Please. The worst we've had to deal with is being annoyed by the Box Ghost on a regular basis."

The sarcasm was just dripping from his friend's voice and Danny laughed despite himself. "That sounds pretty bad."

"Tell me about it." Sam's voice took on a worried tone, one that she seemed to be using more and more often. "You take care of yourself, okay, Danny? I want you to come home in one piece."

"Don't I always?" he joked.

"I'm serious, Danny."

"I know." There was a brief, contemplative silence, broken when the two sighed in unison.

"We hang around each other too much," he laughed.

"I know it. See you, Danny," she said.

"Bye, Sam."

Danny hung up the phone and sighed, massaging his temples. There was a short knock at the door and Eliza burst in.

"Your mom told me to tell you that we're going out to dinner soon and that you should take a shower if you haven't already," she told him in a rush. She gave him a look-over and said, "Nice boxers. They match your recently-shampooed hair."

"Get out, I'm not dressed all the way!" he hissed, blushing.

"Like I haven't been to a co-ed swimming pool before," she snorted.

"Turn around," Danny ordered. Eliza rolled her eyes and huffed, but complied.

Trusting her in this situation about as much as he would trust Tucker not to take embarrassing photos of him to email to complete strangers, Danny hastily found some clean pants and shoved them on.

"Took you long enough on the phone," Eliza remarked, still turned around. "You must like that Sam girl a lot."

"You were listening?" Danny asked, his foot stopped halfway through a leg.

"She seems nice," the redhead continued, ignoring his question. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"Don't change the subject!" he snapped.

"Probably not. From what I could tell, y'all have a more-than-friends, less-than-lovers thing going on. Is she gay?"

"....what?"

"Are _you_ gay?"

"Eliza!"

"What, I'm not looking!" she protested.

"That's not the- you are so aggravating!" Danny groaned. "First off, no, neither of us are gay. Second off, were you listening in on another line?"

"Danny, that would have been impossible. You were using a _cell phone_. And I didn't really mean to eavesdrop- really!" she said when she saw his expression. "I came to talk and I heard you on the phone, and something just caught my ear...."

Taking a nervous swallow, Danny asked, "How much did you hear?"

"Not enough to know exactly what you two were talking about, but enough to be officially freaked out," she said, snorting. Danny felt his blood run cold as the girl continued. "I'm going to ask you again: what the heck is going on?"

Danny didn't reply. After a moment, he sank down onto the bed. "I.... I can't tell you," he said.

"You can't or you won't?" There was more than a tinge of exasperation in Eliza's voice. Sighing, she sat down next to him. They both studied the carpet and its lovely floral pattern for a while.

"Look, I just want to know.... is my family going to be in danger?" she asked.

"I don't know, Eliza. Probably not," Danny said, shifting his feet awkwardly.

"You don't know that." This was more of a statement on the girl's part than an accusation. Danny shook his head, and in a softer tone, she asked, "Are you going to be in danger?"

Hesitating, he took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. More than likely."

Eliza sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Absently, she started twirling a red strand with her finger and narrowed her gray eyes thoughtfully. "Well," she said slowly, "since I'm being deprived of any details, I don't think I'll be of much help to you. I do suppose that you know what you're doing?"

"I know enough, I guess," Danny said, shrugging.

Nodding, she said, "Okay, then. Is there any way at all that I can help out with the.... whatever you have to do?"

"I guess just be on the lookout for anything strange," he said.

Eliza raised an eyebrow. "By strange, I assume you mean something like this."

"Uh-huh."

She grinned suddenly. "Since you won't tell me what's up with this, can I guess?"

"Sure," Danny said, a bit surprised.

"Okay," Eliza said, rubbing her hands together. "It's got something to do with ghosts, right?"

"Right," he nodded.

"So, um..... it has something to do with your parents' work. I don't think that anyone else in your family knows, otherwise you wouldn't have gone to talk to Sam in private." When Danny nodded again, she said, "Oooh, a secret! This just keeps getting better and better." Eliza pondered a bit and stared at Danny absently. "I wonder...."

"What?" he said.

"Think fast," she told him and brought up her hand to slap him in the face. He dodged just in time, but couldn't avoid being whapped by her backswing.

"Ow! Geez, what was that for?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"So, obviously you're not a ghost, or otherwise my hand would have gone right through you." Eliza thought it over a bit and sighed. "Search me if I know what's up. You're secret's safe for now. And.... I guess I won't tell anyone about this conversation, since you're so keen on keeping the.... whatever private." She poked him. "You gotta be more careful, though. I mean, I'm not exactly the most observant person in the world and I already know something's up."

"That's because you were listening behind the door," he grumbled.

"What do you expect?" she laughed. "My mom's friend's son goes into a room to make a private phone call and I'm not supposed to be curious?"

"You're nosy."

Eliza beamed. "I know."

He gave half-smile, still looking down at his feet. Eliza gave him a friendly thump on the arm and stood up. "Hurry up and get a shirt on so we can go eat. I'm starving, and you're the one holding us up."

Danny cracked a grin. "All right. And Eliza?" She hesitated at the door, looking back at him. "Thanks for not, you know.... prying about this."

She nodded. "You're welcome," she said, and went off.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**6:02 PM**

Later that evening, the two families piled into their respective cars. Maddie agreed to drive on the condition that they tell her everything- and she meant everything- that happened at the convention.

"You didn't really miss much, Mom," Jazz assured her. "Dad didn't even blow anything up this time."

"You say that as though it comes as a surprise," Jack said.

"It does," his wife and children said.

They followed the Channingses' car to downtown Star City, coming in through the bridge on the east side. Jazz looked down out of the window at the Star River, reflecting bright sunlight. The sun, soon to be setting over the Blue Ridge Mountains, cast a warm golden glow over the apartments and handful of skyscrapers. Under a yellow awning that stretched for a couple of blocks, locals were packing up their crafts and produce from a day at the market.

They passed a five-story building with banners strung on the brick walls across from a large, warehouse-type building. Going down a smaller side street, the car slowed and parked beside a little Indian restaurant.

"Welcome to Nawab's!" greeted a deeply tanned man in a light British accent. "Table for eight?" Before awaiting their reply, he grabbed some menus and led them to the back of the room. The whole place was decorated in a vibrant Eastern theme; the walls were decked in scarlet and orange wallpaper, gold leaf adorned the rustic wooden chairs, and a large, ornate statue was set up in the corner.

"What's with the six-armed guy?" Danny, nudging Eliza as they sat down at the same end of the table.

"From what I remember from geography last year, that six-armed guy would be Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction. Or something like that." She sighed as she looked through the menu. "Dad, you know I don't like this place."

"Oh, come on," Eric said. "You need to try new foods once in a while. Be cultured, and all that stuff your mom keeps yammering about. Ow!" he said as a swift kick came from his wife's direction.

Eliza made a face and said, "You never make Todd try new things."

"That's because pizza's the only thing he's eaten voluntarily for the past three years," Katrina replied. "Thank goodness they'll fix him up a hamburger."

"I thought that the cow was sacred or something?" Jazz said.

"Well," Eric said, leaning to whisper in her ear, "It's really buffalo meat. Don't tell Todd, or he won't eat it anymore."

"Neither would I," Jazz said, grimacing.

Closing her eyes, Eliza randomly pointed to a spot on the menu. "Tandoori chicken," she muttered. "Well, at least it's not buffalo."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**6:42 PM**

After finishing his curry (which turned out to be a sort of soupy dish with vegetables, rice, and an unidentifiable meat by-product), Danny excused himself to the bathroom. A quick glance under the stalls discerned that he was alone. Rolling up his shirt, he looked at the reflection of the bandage on his arm.

"How can I even tell if this stupid thing is working?" he muttered. Quickly, he ripped the bandage off and tried not to wince at the sting. He waited a few minutes for something to happen. No ghost hunters bust down the door, no spirit popped out of nowhere. It was exceedingly anticlimactic.

Danny sighed, partly in disappointment and partly in relief. "Well, better safe than sorry," he muttered, replacing the bandage under his sleeve.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**6:45 PM**

"Are you okay, Jazz?" Maddie asked. "You've barely touched your dinner."

Jazz slid her plate away and sighed. "I guess I'm just not very hungry," she said. _Why am I still hung up about Conley?_ she thought, idly staring out the window. _I mean, the chances of seeing him again are one in a million- speak of the devil.... _

She spotted her mind's fancy hanging outside the entrance, looking in with vague interest. Conley spotted her and lightly rapped on the glass, giving a wave.

"Who's that?" Maddie asked.

Eliza and Danny broke into identical grins and said, "Jazz's _boyfriend._"

"He is _not_!" she protested hotly. "I just met him today!"

The two started to snicker and, to keep Jazz from attacking them with silverware, Maddie said, "Jazz, we were planning on looking around the shops here after dinner. If you're done, it's all right with me if you want to go see your.... friend."

"Really?" Jazz perked up.

"Of course. Go on," Maddie said, shooing her daughter off, "we'll find you later."

"Thanks, Mom! Love you, bye!" Jazz said, giving her mom a kiss and racing off.

"Running off from dinner to be with a boy she's only known for a day.... our little girl's growing up," Jack said, dabbing at his eyes with the tablecloth.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**6:48 PM**

"Hello, Jazz," Conley said.

"Hey," Jazz said shyly. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was just walking by when I spotted a charming girl in one of the restaurants. Lo and behold, if it wasn't the same one I had met earlier today."

"You- you think I'm charming?" Jazz asked, blushing.

"I said it, didn't I?" he replied, grinning. "I was wondering if you might like to accompany me tonight."

_I can't believe that he's openly flirting with me_, Jazz thought, nodding her consent. _And I can't believe that I'm falling for it. _

"Where are we going?" she asked aloud as they started to walk.

"There's a soiree being held at the park," he explained. "I thought that you and I could go down there and check it out."

"You mean we're going to crash a party?" Jazz frowned.

"Exactly," Conley said, smirking. "Unless you want to pay the two hundred dollar entrance fee."

"Well, I don't know...."

"Come on, Jazz. We show up, we mingle, and then we leave. No biggie."

"We could get into trouble."

Conley shrugged. "Nothing I couldn't talk my way out of."

Jazz spent the next few minutes wondering what he meant by that statement. He started walking a little closer to her until their knuckles started to brush against one another. She felt a small thrill through her body as he slipped his hand around hers.

_Oh, my God.... what do I do? Am I supposed to say something? I bet I'm blushing big time._ Chancing a look at Conley, Jazz caught the smile he sent her way. Her stomach flipped and an unknown emotion swirled up inside. To keep from making a complete idiot of herself, she stared down at her feet as they walked, determined not to meet his eye.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**6:58 PM**

"You know," Eliza said thoughtfully, "there are a bunch of creepy guys out there."

"Okay.... that was random," Danny said.

"No, wait, what if Conley is one?"

"Ah," he said, catching on. "Then I suppose that it would be my duty as her brother to go after her and make sure that she doesn't get into any trouble."

"And it would be my duty as your friend to go with you so we can observe Jazz's situation from a distance," Eliza said, smirking. "Hey, Mom?" she called. "Me and Danny are done. Can we go outside, too?"

Katrina raised an eyebrow. "Are you planning to spy on Jazz?"

"Mom!" Eliza said, looking shocked. "It hurts that you would ever consider such an action. It hurts-" she lay a hand on her chest, "-right here. No, wait, more like...." She shifted her hand to the left a bit and said, "There we go. Hurts right there."

"Eliza," her mother warned.

"Okay, okay, fine. I'll leave the two lovebirds _alone_. Can we go, now?"

"As long as you take Todd with you and don't get lost," Katrina said.

Eliza grabbed her brother's hand. "Don't get Todd lost. Got it," she said, and led the two boys out of there.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**7:06 PM**

Walking hand-in-hand, Conley and Jazz passed the old market building and the remains of an abandoned department store. They neared the public library, which overlooked Elmwood Park. A large tent had been set up at the near end of the park where many people, probably used to being described as rich and affluent, were gathered.

Conley let go of Jazz's hand and she wondered if she'd done something wrong when he gallantly offered his arm. "Shall we?" he asked.

"Well, since we're already here...." she said, taking his arm. He led her around the guards with clipboards checking everyone's invitation and/or $200.

"What's the party for?" Jazz asked.

"Probably some rich brat's presentation to society," Conley muttered. In one fluid movement, he grabbed a glass of champagne off the tray of a passing maître d' and took a sip.

"It's a tad flat for Chardonnay, but otherwise aged quite nicely," he remarked.

"Conley, you're too young to drink," Jazz said, surprised.

"Please. People give their kids watered-down wine all the time," he said, rolling his eyes. "Here, try some."

Taking the glass, she cautiously raised it to her lips. The champagne had a foreign taste to Jazz and tickled her nose. She gave a laugh and handed the half-empty glass back to Conley. "It's bubbly!" she exclaimed, holding a hand over her nose.

"Well, the French do call it 'sparkling water'," he said, amusement evident in his eyes. "But since you're uncomfortable with drinking, I suppose we can find you something else." He caught the attention of a second maître d'.

"Yes, sir?" the man said.

"Gin and tonic for me, some punch for the girl," said Conley.

"Very good, sir."

"You know your way around the rich scene," Jazz commented as the man went to fill their orders.

Shrugging, Conley said, "I've had experience with high society, yes.... here we go."

The maître d' had come back with a little tray and handed them their drinks. "Your punch, madam."

"Thank you," Jazz said. With a clink of their glasses, Conley gave a silent toast.

_Well, there's only so much trouble I can get into with punch_, Jazz thought, taking a swallow.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**7:20 PM**

"Where did that girl go?" Eliza asked, scanning the deserted streets.

"Where'd everyone else go?" Danny asked.

"I'm bored!" Todd announced.

"We know!" Danny and Eliza said.

"Anyway," she continued after exchanging a surprised look with Danny, "I think there's some fling going down at the park that we weren't invited to, being middle-class citizens and all. Wanna go crash it?" she asked hopefully.

"Let's not and say we did," Danny said, rolling his eyes. "Focus, Eliza. We've got to find Jazz so we can spy on her and Conley."

"And break out into 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight?' at inopportune moments?"

"Why not?" Danny grinned. They headed down the sidewalk, looking around nervously for a sign of anyone else.

"This is like that part in the zombie movie," Todd whispered.

"Which one?" Eliza whispered back.

"Um.... you know. The one with all the undead people stalking the living people at the place with the thing."

"Todd, that covers the plot of about seven movies."

"So? Anyway, these people are walking down the street, see-"

"Which people?" Eliza interrupted. "The undead or the not-dead?"

"The not-dead. Like I was saying, these people are walking down the street and there's _no one_ there."

"Maybe it was a holiday or something. People don't go out into the streets on a holiday."

"Will you quit it?" Todd snapped. "Anyway, suddenly there comes this moan-"

"From who? You just said that the streets were empty!"

"I'm _trying_ to explain it to you, if you'd shut your big fat mouth once in a while!"

"Oh, you are so dead!"

Danny laughed to himself as the siblings continued to bicker, trying to remember the last time he and Jazz had fought like that. It would have to have been a long time ago, before she had become all "mature".

Passing an alleyway, the still air grew unexplainably cold. The hair on Danny's neck prickled and he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Danny? You okay?" Eliza asked, pausing in her squabble to turn around.

His reply was cut off by a puff of blue smoke streaming from his mouth. Eliza gasped and involuntarily took a step backwards.

"Danny-"

"Get out of here," he said, facing the alley. There was a burst of blue light, illuminating a hulking figure taking refuge in the alleyway. Phantom had arrived.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**7:28**

"An' then, an' then- hic- it's all like.... you know, like the thing...." Jazz waved her arms around in a vague manner to get her point across. She stumbled over an uneven part of the sidewalk and Conley caught her before she hit the ground.

"Hi," she said, grinning as she looked up at him.

"Hello," he replied and guided her over to a bench in a more secluded part of the park. "I think, Jazz, that you've had a bit too much to drink."

"Me? Hic, no, naw, no.... nope, not me. I don't drink. Hic. It was only this much," she said, holding her thumb and forefinger apart to signify the amount of "this much". (Apparently, the punch had contained more than fruit).

"Besides," she continued, "I'm not supposed to.... you know...."

"Drink?" Conley supplied.

Jazz nodded emphatically. "Yeah. That. That's bad. Hic. I'm not supposed to hic. Hic. Hic. You know."

"Well, I won't tell anyone if you don't," he said.

"Good. Cause I'm s'posed to set an.... exam.... ple.... for duh. Duh. You know. Hic. The kid."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah!" Jazz said. "That's him! That's the- hic- one! I'm s'posed to set an example for- hic- Danny." Slumping against his shoulder, she added thoughtfully, "He really needs to get a haircut."

"That.... that he does," Conley agreed. They sat like in a silence broken only by Jazz's drunken hiccups.

"Do you spend a lot of time with your brother?" he asked after a while.

Jazz shook her head sadly. "No. He's all.... you know. Hic. Doesn't want to be with his sister anymore."

"Well, he is growing up. I suspect that he has friends of his own."

"But th-that's not the only.... thing... you know, the thing that makes you do something else...."

"Reason?"

"Yeah. That's not the only reason he's not- hic- hanging with me any- hic- more."

"Really, now," Conley said. "What would that other reason be?"

Jazz giggled. "Danny is- hic- half ghost."


	8. The Continuation of the Drunk Jazz Scene

October 14-15, 2004: Welcome to chapter 8.1! Okay. I know. I am a bad author. I've let you all hang ling miserable little hangy-things with an awful cliffhanger. Well, let me tell you: High school is tougher than you think. Homework.... ay, yi, yi. The eighth chapter is slow coming, so this is what I'm going to do: I'm going to break it up for you. Each day for the next three or four (or five?) days, you'll get a little bit of chapter eight. Then, once that's done, I'll be gone. You won't be hearing from me until mid-December, I think. Why? I'm taking part in National Novel Writing Month, which you can learn more about by accessing my blog (check out my profile for the link).

Today, you get the references; tomorrow, you get more hints about the real location of Star City; Sunday, you get my answers to the reviews; Monday is Fan Appreciation Day. I'll be taking some requests.... what do you want to see more of in a later fic? Which characters of mine do you like? What's the one question that's on your mind? And I'll have a nice little speech planned out for y'all, who rock beyond all rational belief.

Chapter seven references: FOP (technically it's an FOP reference, seeing as how it doesn't have it's own show as of yet), "Will and Grace", "The Diary of Anne Frank" (movie version), KimuraSato's fic "Yearbook Signing", "CatDog", "The Lion King" zombie movies in general (oh, come on, now, this isn't hard!), Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, and "Ed, Edd, and Eddy". This last one is very hard to find, and even if you do, you might not recognize it, so.... correctly identify the quote that's doing the referencing, and praises shall be sung of you. The only reference in this chaplet is one of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

This chaplet (mini-chapter- chaplet) picks up right after Jazz told Conley about Danny's secret. Oh, and I'm ditching with the "give the readers the time" thing because it was bugging the crap out of me. Without further ado, I present the chapter.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City,  
Chapter 8.1: The Continuation of the Drunk Jazz Scene

Drunk as she was, something registered in Jazz's brain that she had treaded into dangerous territory. "It's s'posed to be a secret," she said uncertainly. "I'm not s'posed to even know...."

Nodding, Conley said, "I understand."

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" she asked fearfully, sounding for all the world like a little kid trying to get out of trouble.

A pained look crossed Conley's face. "I-" He swallowed and turned his amethyst eyes away. "No. Of course not."

"Good. Good. Tha's good. I trust you." She snuggled up against his side. Surprised, Conley instinctively put an arm around her shoulder and drew her close. "You know what?" she asked suddenly.

"What?" he asked softly.

"You're cute," she giggled, wrapping one arm around his neck. "I really like you," she announced.

"I know," he said.

Looking up, she was surprised at the amount of regret in his eyes. She wanted to do something, anything to comfort him, and cupped her free hand around his cheek. Conley reached up and placed his hand over hers, holding it gently.

"You're sad. No one should be sad," Jazz whispered before giving him a kiss. When she drew back, she was beet red but grinning happily.

"Ha! I did it!" she said, and her grin faltered. "You know what?" she said without a slur. "I think I am a bit wasted." With that, Jazz fainted.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

D'aw! Go one, tell me that that wasn't cute! I've had this particular bit planned out for almost a month.... D'aw. So, I'd like your opinions, please. Oh, and "chaplet" doesn' really mean "mini-chapter", I just use it that way- it's an actual word. The first person to correctly identify its usage gets a cookie. Until tomorrow, _mis amigos_.


	9. Beastie Attack

October 16, 2004: I know. The chaplet thing sucks. I'm sorry, but it's the only way to get this chapter done and let not let y'all die of cliffhangerness (which is, by the way, the twenty-seventh highest killer of Jamaicadian men over seventy-two). So. I love you all! hopeful look Oh, and how did everyone like "Teacher of the Year" last night? Dude, it was awesome.

In the actual Star City, there is a downtown market area. It's got this yellow awning and stretches around this 6-story building in the downtown area. Nawab's is an actual restaurant down there, though I've never been there- I had to make up all the decorations and stuff. And there is a bridge that you have to cross to get to downtown Star City. And there is an actual library that sits on a hill that overlooks a park (Elmwood Park, to be precise) that rich, snobsters rent to have Coming Out parties for their respective brats.

Congrats to Ghostly Hamburger, who correctly identified a "chaplet" as a string of beads! Also a garland and some stuff.... mumbles Here's your cookie, GH: --O-- No, those aren't tentacles- that's the yummy smell coming off of it. Be proud, girl! Anywho, this chaplet has to do with the thing that Danny saw in the alley.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City  
Chapter 8.2: Beastie Attack

The creature, easily ten feet tall, dragged itself out of the cramped alleyway, stretching its misshapen body like a cat. It had a powerful, four-legged body, much like one of a bull or an ox. Muscles rippled under the sleek black fur and diamond-hard hooves stomped the ground impatiently. A human torso sprouted where the neck and head of the creature should have been. One hand was clenched, the thumb absently running over silver knuckles; the other held a spear, sharpened to a deadly point and held with an almost cocky recklessness. Its face was that of a bull's, a large ring pierced between the nostrils and a pair of short, stubby ears poking up from the ungroomed mane. Its storm-colored eyes were truly startling, for their appearance was nothing less than human.

"Minotaur," Danny heard Eliza whisper in awe. The creature blinked at them and they all stood there, slightly dumbfounded at the unexpected developments.

The attack was sudden, though not entirely unexpected; uttering not so much as a battle cry, the minotaur launched itself at Danny with a speed associated with creatures far smaller than itself. The halfa dodged, but wasn't able to completely avoid the blow.

Danny slammed into the brick wall. It took a few seconds for gravity to kick in, and he slid down into a heap on the cold cement. There was a sharp _crack_ as his left ulna snapped under the force of his weight and the fall. He was dimly aware of the beast stalking towards him as intense pain jetted from his arm.

_Do something, do something!_ he yelled at himself, but his body didn't seem to want to cooperate. His mind had gone fuzzy and the pain was getting more severe by the moment; he was pretty sure that the white stub poking out of his lower arm was bone. There was little else he could do but watch as the creature flexed its free hand and reached towards the halfa.

"Hey, big boy! That's right, I'm talking to you, mino-freak!"

The minotaur turned, puzzled at being addressed so fearlessly by such a small creature. The creature in question had a fiery mass of hair and was glaring defiantly with gray eyes.

"Eliza, don't-" Danny tried to say, but the girl wouldn't be deterred.

"Why don't you come over here and pick on someone your own size?" she demanded, quickly measuring the distance between herself and the far end of the alley in her mind. Coming to the decision that she could probably run for it, she started edging down the dark passageway. She was about to dash off when she realized that her brother wasn't there.

"Todd," she whispered urgently, spotting the nine-year-old cowered against the wall. The minotaur followed her gaze and snorted, turning its attention to the little boy. Eliza started running for her brother when the beast flicked its spear towards her in an almost offhanded manner. She jerked before it pierced her skin, but in turn, that caused the back of her shirt to be pinned by the blade.

Shaking now, Todd began to creep along the wall, but a massive hand blocked his process. The creature picked him up and brought him to eye level, displaying a large amount of sharp teeth in its smile.

"I-I-I'm not afraid of you," the boy stuttered. A loud grunt, which was interpreted to be a "yeah, right" laugh, escaped from the minotaur's mouth. It lowered its head towards its prey-

"_Todd!"_ Eliza screamed. The beast inhaled a pale, smoky mist coming out of Todd's mouth. The boy had stopped struggling altogether and color was slowly being bleached out of his skin and clothes.

Out of nowhere, a black-and-white blur launched itself feet first at the beast's back. Shuddering a bit under the impact, the creature looked up, momentarily distracted from its prey. Danny was hovering a few meters about his head, breathing heavily.

"You...." he raised up his good arm, "leave him.... alone!"

Though only half as powerful as his usual ones, Danny's ectoplasmic blast hurt the minotaur. Roaring defiance at its returned enemy, the beast tossed Todd to the ground. Eliza struggled, trying to free herself to get to her brother's side as Danny gathered strength for a second blast.

The opportunity never came. The beast suddenly cocked its head and flared its ears, as though listening to something. Danny thought that the could just make out a chime in high soprano when the minotaur snorted in consent. It pawed at the ground with one hoof and looked the halfa in the eye, making a silent promise to continue the fight; then it galloped off, fading from sight with each step.


	10. Eidolon

October 17, 2004: S'up y'all? grins stupidly Yeah, this is a cool part, so I think. But, before I deal with that, I present to you the long-awaited RESPONSE TO REVIEWERS™®©!!!! By the way, you all get something Conley-related, seeing as how he's the coolest frickin' person on the earth, man.

**Firehedgehog: **You have all four seasons of Digimon on tape? blinks They're showing the later episodes of season two on Jetix. No, Ken! Don't do it! sobs Oh, and your prediction about Conley using Jazz is correct. Good work, my liege. Also, I'm looking forward to writing about the hangover. For there _will_ be a hangover. You get one of the contacts that Conley's going to get in one of the sequels.

**Axion-Pup:** Bad girl! No sugar for you anymore! Wait, you are a girl, right? backs away If not, supremest apologies, O Reviewer of Mine. Speaking of things coming out of nowhere, I hate beefcakes! And poor Danny! I'm sure that he'd feeel better to know that there's like an entire frickin' legion of fangirls who'd obey his every command, should he every manifest himself in reality. Hey, weren't you PSDog? If so, then George gets "Conley was here" spray painted on his butt. ; edges away slowly

**Snow Owl Queen: **I can tell you right off the bat, Conley isn't a halfa. He's a mutant. blinks Darn. Did I just let that vital piece of information slip? I'm such a bad girl. Now I'm going to have rabid fans come busting down my door at three in the morning, demanding an explanation.... And how the crap did you know that my school had block schedualing? That's just freaky, yo. Can you tell my fortune, and all that jazz? You get Conley's orange turtleneck.

**KimuraSato:** Dude, you finally finished Yearbook Signing! I demand that you do a sequel. After November. Because of the thing. You get a hug from Conley.

**cheerin4danny: **Wow indeed, my eloquent friend. I hope that this chapter has been worth the wait.... hides under table I know, the chaplet thing wasn't my best idea. I'm just trying to condition myself to get used to Nanowrimo. You get one of Conley's socks.

**Shidou-kun and Ryu-sama:** Are you like two different people on the same account, or do you have split personalities? If so, would your s/p like to visit with mine? Mine's very friendly and doesn't bite- hard. You get Conley's other contact.

**Shadowesque13:** Pokeh Shy. You are absolutely correct, Conley must be drawn! Only by someone with far greater skill than I. is sad You get Conley's trench coat.

**Desora Selombal:** Of course I'm going to write more! This is my little baby! I'm going to write, and write, and write, until my thumbs break and I drown in my own spit, if that's what it takes! You get Conley's future shades.

**Aura Spectre:** My dæmon is a Malayan fruit bat named Borrick. No, I totally got what you were saying, dude. You get a lock of Conley's hair.

**Jazzeh:** I know. It does rock, doesn't it? And the Ego-Monitor goes through the roof.... You get a kiss on the cheek from Conley.

**Silver Latias: **Yes, you got the German phrase correct. I picked it up from reading all those X-Men: Evolution fics long ago. Kurt's funny. Anyway, _you're wrong!_ Absolutely _wrong!_ With your prediction, I mean. You shall see why if you read this chaplet.... insert evil, manical laughter here Drunk Jazz is funny. Conley's been a bad boy. I'll have to think up some mean way to torture him. Let's start with giving the boy a horribly violent and bloody past! That always works! By and by, are you on the Butch Hartman forums? Cause there's someone there that has a name veeery similar to yours, and I was just wondering. And that was an unintentional reference! I've never read Mr. Popper's Penguins, I swear! The monkey made me do it! You get a behind-the-hand snarky comment from Conley.

**Anomaly25: **Aw, I don't deserve your praise.... Wait a minute, yes I do! Thanks anyway. It's things like this that just make me go all warm and fuzzy. You get Conley's cell phone.

**Hikaari:** Yeah, I really liked that part, too. It rocks, so it does. You get Conley's other sock.

**Wind Cat:** Since I've already given away one little secret in the RESPONSE TO REVIEWERS, I think that I'll give away one more: you referring to Conley as Jazz's "not-yet boyfriend dude" is closer to the truth than some might think. You get both of Conley's Reeboks.

**Jewel59: **Jazz wasn't stupid, she was just under the influence! May this be a lesson to all you minors out there: Don't drink and derive! Alcohol and calculus don't mix! You get Conley's watch thing.

**Cartoon Fan: **Yeah, I like referencing. It's a hobby of mine. You get Conley's necklace-thing.

**Lateraina Wolf: **How the heck do you pronounce that first part of your name? Anywho, I like the song, too. You get Conley's pants.

**Neptunes Tsunami: **Thankee kindly. Now you can know what happens next! You get a glare from Conley.

**Ghostly Hamburger: **S'up. I'm continuing.... sooner or later.... You get Conley's boxers.

**AbeoUmbra:** Wow, a new reviewer who read through all of DSC.... That's really neat. And "interesting" doesn't even begin to describe what I've got planned. You get a pillow that Conley drooled on.

**Amber:** I am updating soon! You'll get another little thing tomorrow! Since I have nothing left, you get Conley. Make sure that you take him for walks, else he gets crabby.

Remember folks, tomorrow is Fan Appreciation Day! Have fun, and drive home safely!

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City   
Chapter 8.3: Eidolon

"I found our little halfa friend," Conley reported through his cell phone. It was quite a task to manage holding the phone with one hand and keeping Jazz from falling off the bench with the other, but he somehow managed. "You were right. It was the Fenton boy, not his sister."

There was a slight pause and Conley snapped, "I only wanted to be sure! There's no use going through with this if we don't even know-"

He was interrupted and waited impatiently. "I understand that we lost time! I get the concept! But come on, it's not going to be hard to lure the kid off alone- **you did _what_? **You know that.... that.... that _thing_ can't be controlled!" The person on the other end of the line gave a smooth reply and Conley sighed irritably. "One person. One person can control it. That's it! ....of course I've heard stories about Phantom! I know he's strong! I just can't believe that you let it loose...."

There was a long pause. "The kid isn't supposed to die. I don't want anyone else's blood on my hands.... Of course I remember our deal. I'm not trying to back out. You just remember your end. This is the last time I'm serving as your lackey," he spat. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he continued, "And tell Eidolon to hurry up. I want this thing over and done with by midnight."

In one motion, Conley flipped the phone shut and slipped it into a pocket of his trench coat. His hand brushed against the Fenton Ghost Laser and brought about an old, almost forgotten emotion.

"Guilt.... But why?" Conley asked, giving the girl in his arm a searching glance. Jazz shifted and it seemed as though she were going to awaken, but no; she was still out cold. In her sleep, one hand lightly clutched the other teen's shirt and her head drooped over his chest. He hesitated and, not completely knowing why, ran a hand through her hair.

"You're no different than all those other girls," he informed her. _I'd never wanted anything to do with them, either_, he thought to himself. _But hey, orders were orders. Get information by any means necessary...._

"This is stupid," he said aloud. "As long as Jazz stays out of the way, she won't be hurt." Judging from the amount of liquor in that punch, he didn't think that she'd be going anywhere for a while. _But why do I even care?_ he wondered, tracing a line up her cheekbone. _I've had to charm a lot of girls in the past. Stupid, bubbly gits, the lot of them. But somehow, Jazz is different.... _

"Ignoring my hormones for a while," he said dryly, "there's no reason this girl should matter to me. It's not like I'm indebted to her or anything...."

'_I trust you.'_

"Damn conscience," he muttered, closing his eyes. "Absent for years, and it picks _now_, of all times, to kick in."

"Yes, well, consciences like to do things like that."

Conley's eyes snapped open at the sound of the other voice. Was Jazz- no, she was still asleep. He wrapped her arm around her tighter. The figure in front of him laughed at this display.

The boy presently regained his composure and said, with no little amount of contempt, "Eidolon."

"Conley." Though it wore a hooded cloak, Conley was sure that the spirit was smirking as it said his name. "And who's this fair broad in his arms? Oh, let me guess- this is the one you thought was the halfa! But now that you know you won't have to hurt her, you've decided to be the clichéd lover, the heroic mercenary who ends up crushing on the girl-"

"Be quiet," Conley hissed. Eidolon let out an insane laugh and crossed its arms. The sleeves of its black robe pulled back enough to reveal its apparent lack of hands and wrists.

"Wait til the boss hears about this," the spirit said, grinning. The glow from a streetlight reflected off an obsidian canine. Strangely, the rest of its face remained hidden. "She isn't going to like that you've compromised our situation."

"I haven't," Conley snapped, getting up suddenly. "And she doesn't need to know. This girl-" he gestured to Jazz, who had slumped against the bench, "-isn't involved in any of this. She's just-"

"Let me guess, let me guess! An innocent bystander, correct?" When the boy nodded, Eidolon let out a hysterical shriek. "This is rich! This is simply rich! Conley 'Look at how many girls have to throw themselves at me before I even blink!' Davenport falling head-over-heels, madly in-"

"Don't say it."

"-love."

Conley's hand clenched and he glared at the spirit. "You aren't here to antagonize me, Eidolon. You job is to-"

"I know full well what my job is," Eidolon said. "I'm just waiting for the opportune moment in which to complete it."

"That moment being....?"

"When my pet returns to me," the spirit replied. Conley balked visibly at that statement, and Eidolon let out a high-pitched giggle.

"Oh, that's right, you don't like my pet, do you? I remember now. You used to have nightmares; horrible and ghastly ones, if I do recall."

Eidolon took a step towards Conley and the boy backed away, much to its amusement. "Come to think of it, you don't like ghosts in general much, either. Why? Do we scare you?" it asked, stepping closer.

"Get away from me," Conley said through clenched teeth.

"Even after all these years, I still frighten the child!" Eidolon snorted. "Don't bother trying to deny it, human. You're radiating fear." It turned and gave a whistle. Though the sound was too high for Conley to hear, the boy still felt it; there was an eerie quality to it that seemed to be summoning something. Presently, hoofbeats echoed began to echo towards the park and a large minotaur galloped into sight.

"Someone will see it," Conley murmured as the beast raced past the soiree tents.

"No, they won't," Eidolon said gleefully. Its arms moved in such a manner that indicated that its invisible hands were probably rubbing together. "I've made them all unaware of any supernatural events that take place tonight."

"I trust that this time you actually took care in your spellbinding?" Conley asked.

"Of course I did. I don't me the same mistake twice," the spirit said irritably. Its demeanor noticeably brightened when the beast halted a few yards away. Conley got as far away from the monster as possible while keeping himself between it and Jazz. Eidolon's outline became hazy and it reappeared clearly before the beast.

It floated up to look the creature in the eyes. "There, there," it said, almost soothingly, as it rubbed the muzzle. "I missed you, too. And what's this?" it asked in surprise as a pale mist was exhaled from the minotaur's nostrils. The spirit reached out with reverance, and the piece of Todd's soul wound its way into the shadows of Eidolon's hood.

"Very good, my pet," it crooned. "You've done well. You may rest."

The minotaur grunted and sank to the ground. It dissolved right before Conley's eyes and flashed to a spot on Eidolon's chest. Now, there hung a golden necklace over its black robes, a crude centaurian figure etched upon its surface.

Eidolon turned to Conley, and the boy flinched under the spirit's gaze. "I'll be back soon," it hissed. "And if I find that you've run off...." It let out a chilling laugh. Shadows crept up its robes and enveloped the spirit; when they faded, it was gone.


	11. Soulless

October 18, 2004: Okay, listen up, you little twerps. I spent all frickin' day on this stupid chaplet so y'all're gonna _like_ it. It's cool! It's.... Cha. Eliza. Danny. Weird mist thing. It's all good.

Today is Fan Appreciation Day, and what better way to honor you all then with a Fan Appreciation Day poem?

_When you review, you make me happy,_

_When you don't, you make me sad,_

_Sometimes you make me ticked-off,_

_But you never make me mad,_

_When I get hit with lots of writer's block_

_And feel like throwing down my pen,_

_You show me that my work ain't bad,_

_And I go off to write again!_

coughs Now do you see why I stick to fanfiction and don't venture into the realm of poetry? Geez. Anywho, I was going to put up a nice, long, eloquent speech about how much you guys rock, but I can't find it. My dog ate the paper. It got stuck in Level Zero on Doom. Butch Hartman used it to make a paper airplane. Something like that. So, at the end of this little chaplet, I'll go on a rant about my fans. But first....

**The answer to references in Chapter Seven:**

FOP: Todd faking sick to watch the Crash Nebula marathon.

Will and Grace: Eliza's comment about Danny and Sam being, "More than friends, less than lovers". Some dude said the same thing to Will about him and Grace.

The Diary of Anne Frank: Conley said, "I said it, didn't I?", which was exactly what Peter said to Anne in the movie.

Yearbook Signing: Conley and Jazz's knuckles brushing together, thus leading to them holding hands; KimuraSato had the same thing in her fic. Though not exactly a reference, I thought that I'd just like to toot Kimmy's horn a bit, seeing as she finally finished the stupid thing. 24 chapters- way to go!

CatDog: In the CatDog Christmas episode, Cat says that, "Christmas comes from right here," and puts his hand on his chest. Then, he says, "No, wait, it's more like.... there we go. Right there."

The Lion King: Eliza suggesting that they break out into "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" when they run into Conley and Jazz. That'd be funny.... I ought to write something like that sometime.

Zombie movies: Oh, come on, people. It's the whole conversation that Todd and Eliza have like three freakin' seconds before Danny goes ghost.

Neverwhere: The Drunk Jazz Scene was inspired by a part in Gaiman's book where the main characters, Richard and Door, get drunk. Read the book to get a better understanding of

Ed, Edd, and Eddy: Basically the use of the word "soiree", which Eddy used when he snuck into Jimmy's birthday party that one episode.

References in all of chapter eight: Another Neverwhere reference, Greek mythology, the Batman comics, and.... dang, that's it? Wow. I rock. Or not?

Here's a mistake: In the last chaplet, Eidolon says, "I don't me the same mistakes twice". The "me" is supposed to be "make". Let this be a lesson to all that the entirety of a story is to be sent to betas.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City  
Chapter 8.4: Soulless

With a mighty wrench, Eliza jerked free of the spear and ran towards her brother. He had landed with relative safety; no bones seemed to be broken, though a massive bruise was forming around his neck. If it weren't for the unsteady rise and fall of his chest, Todd would have appeared to be dead.

"Todd?" Eliza whispered, kneeling beside him to check his pulse. It was erratic and slow, way below normal. "Todd, please," she pleaded, laying a hand on his cheek. It was pale and, like the rest of his body, unnaturally cool. She turned her face away from Danny as the boy landed beside her.

"Is he.... okay?" Danny asked tentatively.

Running a hand through Todd's ash blond hair, Eliza shrugged. "I don't

know." She stood up and faced Danny, silently observing the changes he had undergone. The question, "What _are_ you?" flitted through her mind, but first asked, "Are you hurt?"

"I think my arm's broken, but other than that-"

Eliza let her fist fly into the lower half of Danny's face. He reeled back, holding his jaw with his good hand. Pinning him against the wall by his shoulders, she got in his face.

"You," she said, voice dangerously low, "have three seconds to tell me why I shouldn't blame you for all of this."

"Eliza, I can't-"

"Don't you _dare_ give me any of that crap," she snapped. "My brother almost...." She stopped and swallowed. "He almost died tonight. I want to know why."

Danny looked over Eliza's shoulder at the fallen boy; the halfa seemed to sag, and guilt etched itself onto his features. Sighing, he closed his eyes and nodded as bright lights crossed his body.

If watching the transformation from a distance was surprising, then watching it from up close was disturbing. A wave of warmth washed up Eliza's arms as one beam passed under her hands; she felt Danny's body temperature go up a good ten degrees. His hair darkened and his eyes regained their sky blue color, which looked in hers sadly.

Eliza dropped her eyes and, letting him go, went back to sit beside Todd. Danny settled next to her, his left arm held out at an odd angle.

"So...." she said after a while.

"So," he agreed.

"So tell me."

"What do you want to know?"

The girl pondered this. "Everything," she replied truthfully.

"Well," Danny began, "it all started about three months ago in my parents' lab...."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny talked for a long time. There was almost a relief that came from telling someone else about his secret, even though Eliza wasn't the only one who knew, and even though he didn't have much choice in the matter. After starting, he found that he couldn't leave anything out; the tale had to be completed. To Danny, it seemed like hours passed as he recounted his adventures in the past few months.

"....so the minotaur was a ghost, more than likely after me. Todd just got caught in the crossfire. And...." Danny shrugged. "That's it." He had kept his eyes on the ground the entire time, too afraid to see Eliza's reaction. Chancing a look at her now, he saw that she was studying him intently, an unreadable look on her face.

"Say something," he said, almost pleading.He prepared himself for the worst as she took a breath.

"I'm sorry I hit you," she said.

"What?" Danny asked, staring at her in surprise.

"What what?" she asked. "I'm apologizing. What were you expecting?"

"Uh.... something along the lines of, 'Danny, you're a freak. I never want to see you again'," he said. "That's pretty much the reaction I was expecting."

"Oh. Well, no. Now everything makes sense.... well, more sense than it did before," she amended.

Danny shook his head. "Your brother's hurt because of me, and you just accept my story like that?"

"If you want to be technical about it, then yeah, everything is your fault. But you didn't know that that.... ghost was going to attack," she said. "And you did warn me that we could be in danger. And I did kind of pry...."

"Yeah, you did," he said, giving a short laugh. His smile faltered when his gaze turned back to the unconscious child. "I never meant for any of this to happen," he whispered.

Eliza found his hand and gave it a brief squeeze. "I know," she said softly. They sat like that for a few minutes, silently watching over Todd's sleeping form.

Suddenly giving a shiver, the redhead hugged her legs to her chest. "It got cold all of a sudden."

"It's just late at night-" Danny started to cough, and a stream of blue smoke came from his mouth.

"Where?" Eliza asked, her eyes darting around.

With a terrible certainty, Danny stood up and said, "Right here...."

A mist floated around Danny, lightly settling onto his body. It was cold and surprisingly heavy, clinging to him like a second skin. He saw Eliza's lips moving, but her words were muffled, as though said from far off. There was a gentle pressure at his upper torso and the mist sunk into the boy.

It was inside him! Searching, searching, invading Danny's thoughts with its presence, looking for something, for someone.... A sense of complete _wrongness_ enveloped him, and he wondered if this was what it was like for the people he overshadowed. He wanted to scream at this spirit, to yank it out and regain control, but his body wouldn't cooperate. The stranger probed deeper, and the partition between it and the boy blurred.

There was a tug in Danny's mind as the spirit grasped onto a part of his subconscious, seeking to pull it free. Gasping, Danny dropped to his knees and clutched at his chest. There was a wrenching pain throughout his body as the mist flowed out, now carrying cargo. Danny could feel a void within his mind, missing something that he had only begun to be aware he had.

"Danny...."

Danny looked into the face of the speaker. He was an imperfect reflection of the boy; same face shape, same general appearance. A white lock of hair partially obscured his face, framing green eyes. The swirling mist held him locked in place, just out of Danny's reach. Gathering what remained of his strength, Danny reached up. The white-haired ghost reached back, but they were too far apart- their fingertips barely brushed. The mist crawled up around the ghost, covering him in a blanket of eerie blue. It flashed once and dissipated quickly, leaving no sign of it or its prisoner.

"No...." Danny whispered, staring at where his other self had just been moments before. A terrible sense of loss wracked his system as Eliza helped him up. "No.... Phantom...."

An oppressing silence answered his call.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Ha! Was that a cliffy, or was that a cliffy? Come on, tell me who you love! crickets chirp Oh, screw y'all, I'm going home. But first: the OFtR!!!!

This time, you get not one, not two, but three OFtR! Why? One for chapter seven, one for chapter eight, and one for the accursed time you shan't have any new updates! They are all Danny Phantom, and because of time restriction (ie, Mom telling me to go to sleep), you get no summery.

1. "The Talk" by Inukocharm

2. "Take a Look in the Mirror" by Halacanno

3. "I Wish I Could Hate Him" by valkyrie-alex

My fans.... You rock. Of course, I'd continue to write this story if no one reviewed (for it is dangerous to keep a story bottled up in one's soul), but it wouldn't have been as half as much _fun_. Each time I get a review, it makes me happy and feel warm and fuzzy inside. You are the reason that I go on! Be proud of your fan-ness, for it is what makes writers like me happy! In short....

**I LOVE MY FANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

That is all. Now, I must go off and prepare for not only November, but a short story contest that ends December 1, 2004. That sucks. I will soon be keeping a novelling journal up on my blog, so y'all can see the progress I'm making. The link is in my bio. Also, feel free to email me at any time: .

Until next time, my faithful readers.


	12. Familiar Faces

December 19, 2004: This place.... this place seems so familiar, it's almost like I've been here before. It's like a place I visited once, long ago, and had to leave for years and years and whatnot. Wait.... the memories are coming back to me now.... yes, yes.... I know this place! It's the word document for DSC!

-waves to fans- Hey-o! Ha, I told you I'd be back! But did you believe me? No-o-o-o! Even though I did take a tad longer than planned.... But hey, I have a novel under my belt: "Rift Over Baltimore", a fantasy story set in.... well, Baltimore. Who'da thunkit. It's 50,000 words- 50,000 words of crap, yes, but 50,000 nonetheless. I'm so proud.

But. Anyway. This chapter is not as long, or, in my opinion, as good as the others. I had to get myself out of Baltimore and back in Star City, away from Henri Jackson and Ryan and back to Danny Fenton and Eliza Channings, It was a bit of a shift, and I know this isn't my best work, but you know what? Screw that. It shall all be fixed in the rewrite.

Yes! DSC shall be undergoing a rewrite! See, when I started this venture, I didn't have half this stuff planned out- Conley, Gale, and Jereni weren't in the story, Eidolon showed up in chapter five, and the climax should have been reached two months ago. Now.... -whistles innocently- Biggest thing I want to change is the whole Conley deal, because-

Wait, I don't want to ruin it! Ha. So, let's see.... References in chapter eight: Neverwhere was the whole drunk Jazz deal, Greek mythology was the minotaur (insert a "duh" here), and the Batman comics.... dang, can't find it. No references in this chapter, if you can believe it. What can you say, I'm taking a nice break.

The OFtR is "Comics,

Cookies, and Revenge" by LejindaryBunny. It's about the movie _The Incredibles_ (which is **the coolest movie in the history of really cool movies oh my God you have to see it squeeee!**) about Syndrome. Cha, he's a good little bad guy. pats head

So. I hope that you all have had a nice break, because guess what? _I'm ba-ack_.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City  
Chapter Nine: Familiar Faces

After leaving Nawab's, Katrina proceeded to lead the adults up and down the street and into the shops like an excited child on her birthday. She currently had her nose pressed up against the window of Cinna's Jewelry, a store closed on Friday nights.

"But Eric, just look at that necklace! Rubies inlaid with diamonds.... come on, you know rubies are my birthstone."

Eric took a casual look and shrugged. "Lovely. Now, back to that extra room for the restaurant. I was talking to the guys in the shop next to us, and they're going out of business soon. I figure that we'll be able to do some renovations and rent out the space for a while-"

"Oh, quit talking about the restaurant for once. Christmas is only twenty some days off, and-"

"Thirty some, actually, and the restaurant was your idea in the first place."

"But the rubies! Look, the price tag's right there, it's only...." She trailed off as her eyes skimmed the tag, and she turned away abruptly.

"Who wants to pay that much for a bunch of shiny rocks, anyway?" she muttered.

Eric placed an arm around her shoulders. "Maybe next Christmas, Kat."

Maddie and Jack walked a few paces behind the other couple, laughing at Katrina's antics. She and her daughter were so much alike, it was scary. Speaking of which....

"Where do you suppose Danny and Eliza are?" Maddie asked. "We haven't seen them for almost half an hour."

"I'm sure they're all right," Eric said, halfway turning back to face her. "Eliza just wanted to drag her new friend around the city."

"They're so cute together," Katrina said, sighing.

Eric gave his wife a look. "Katrina."

"Eric."

"Danny and Eliza are fourteen. They've known each other for a grand total of two days. What makes you possibly think that could have a thing for each other?"

"Well, she didn't say that, exactly," Maddie said, coming to her friend's defense. However, silently, she agreed with Eric. Though he and Eliza were getting along famously, Maddie didn't think that Danny _liked_ the girl. "What do you think, Jack?"

Her husband squinted thoughtfully at nothing in particular. "Doesn't Danny like that Sam girl?"

"No, they're 'just friends'." Maddie's voice held no little amount of skepticism.

"Oh. Anyway, it's not those two that bother me. No, I'm more worried about Jazz and.... and.... and what's-his-face."

"You mean that mysterious, handsome stranger that just swept your daughter off her feet? Just like in the movies," Katrina quipped.

Before Maddie could reply, she was cut off by a tremendous _bong_. The source of the sound seemed to emanate several blocks away, from the downtown clock tower. It rang seven more times, effectively deafening everyone within a five-block radius.

As the last peels of the bell died away, Maddie Fenton checked her watch for accuracy. The black second hand just ticked onto the twelve, agreeing that it was indeed eight o'clock.

"Back to the original topic. How are we going to find our children?"

Eric shrugged. "They'll probably find us first. And ignoring the fact that these are teenagers we're talking about, what's the worst trouble they could get into?"

"You'd be surprised," Maddie muttered.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Eliza was trying very, very hard not to panic. In the space of about twenty minutes, she had undergone a major paradigm shift (ie., her new friend was half ghost, her brother had been attacked by a figure straight out of Greek mythos, and both showed the vital signs of an ashtray) and had been forced to suspend belief, probably indefinitely. It took every ounce of control for her not to lose it and break down on the spot, and even then, she wasn't a hundred percent successful.

"Danny?"

The boy did not respond. Seconds after the mist had left, his legs had just given out on him, and he sank to the ground. That had been a few minutes ago; he hadn't moved from his knees since. His eyes stared blankly ahead, directed at the brick wall but seeing nothing.

"Danny," she repeated, this time with more force.

There was a slight flicker in Danny's eyes. "He's- he's _gone_."

Eliza had never seen anyone look so broken in her entire life. She knelt beside him, putting an arm around his shoulder.

"I know, Danny. But we can't just stay here. We need to...." She realized that she had no clue what to do next, but staying in the same place for much longer gave her a very bad feeling.

"We need to find your parents, or my parents, or somebody. I don't know what's going to happen to Todd if we don't get help."

Danny's gaze turned towards the boy and he blinked, reaching out with his hand. He immediately withdrew it, cradling it against his chest. Eliza heard his breath turn to ragged gasps, and she waited patiently for the pain of his broken arm to subside.

"I don't know.... what's going to happen.... to me.... if we don't get help."

His words came out slowly and trembled, as though his voice hadn't been in use for a long time. Cautiously, he let his arm drop, and he reached out towards Eliza with the other. For the second time that night, she helped him to his feet.

"Can you walk on your own?"

Danny took a few steps; they were a bit unsteady, but otherwise fine. She let this answer her question and bent down to pick up her brother. Her heart clenched as she saw Todd's vulnerable face, and she came close to breaking down then and there. She glanced at Danny, who offered her a small, encouraging smile, and hastily wiped away her tears. If he could be strong in such a time as this, then so could she.

"Do you know which way we came?" she asked as they stepped out of the alley, Todd held in her arms hero-style. "I mean, I'm not that familiar with this part of town, and I wasn't paying that much attention in the first place, and when that minotaur thing showed up...."

Danny shook his head, looking up and down the street fearfully as though he were expecting another attack.

"Okay, then." She swallowed, and the dead quiet of the night hit her full force. _Where are the cars?_ she thought frantically. _Where is everyone? There should be people out Christmas shopping, or having a late dinner, or **something**._

They picked a random direction and started walking. The silence began to creep her out, and her mouth opened of her own accord to break it.

"The best point of reference would probably be the science museum, since that's smack in the middle of everything. Too bad I don't know where that is.... We come down here once a week, and you'd think I'd know my way around! I think we're only a few blocks from the restaurant, but it's so easy to get turned around down here. But the park would be good-"

"Eliza."

"-since I know my way from there, and it's not that hard to miss-"

"_Eliza."_

She blinked. "What?"

Danny was looking over his shoulder, his head framed by a yellowish headlight. "We're being followed," he said as a large, gray Safari pulled up to the curb beside them.

Millions of scenarios began to rush through her head, all having to do with two teenagers on the streets at night when a van full of stalkers was thrown into the mix. _Lord, what next?_ she thought, anxiously wondering if she could run fast enough to elude the car while carrying her brother. Even if she could, would Danny be able to keep up? The answer was a big, obvious, resounding no. Eliza gathered her breath to do the only thing she could do- scream, then fight like hell- when the window rolled down.

"Eliza and Danny, right?" said the driver. There was something familiar about his appearance and his voice, and suddenly Eliza placed him as the man they'd met at the convention earlier that day.

"Gale?" Eliza said incredulously, not believing her eyes. She then realized that, compared to everything else that had happened that night, an almost-complete stranger randomly showing up at a very convenient time was positively normal.

He grinned, and then gestured to Todd. "What happened to him?"

Eliza thought quickly. "Uh, it's a long story-"

"Would it by any chance of something to do with a ghost?"

"Oh. Um.... well, yeah. How'd you know?"

"We picked up some weird energy spikes and thought we would come check it out." He took in Eliza's torn shirt and Danny's mangled arm. "Looks like we made it just in time."

"We?"

"Yeah, Jereni's in the back. Come on, we'll give you guys a ride." He got out and opened the sliding door of the van. "Jereni, we got company."

The woman in the third seat blinked her blue eyes, looking up from her laptop. "Are you all alright?"

Eliza bit back a sarcastic reply as Jereni got out and gave Todd a quick once-over.

"His pulse is too slow, and he feels clammy. How long has he been out?"

"About fifteen minutes, I think. Danny?" Eliza said.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure," the other boy mumbled.

It may have been her imagination, but Danny seemed to not be all there. Frowning, she said, "Look, we gotta get these two to a hospital or something. Something snapped in Danny's arm, and Todd's.... he won't wake up."

"Todd was touched by the ghost, wasn't he? They won't know how to treat that at a regular doctor." She motioned Danny and Eliza into the van. "Come on, I know someone who can help."

Eliza held back, not exactly jumping at the chance to go with them. "Who are you two, really? How do you know about the ghost?"

"Eliza, I promise that we'll explain everything on the way," Jereni said gently, "but you're right- we need to get Danny and Todd help. Please trust us."

Hesitating, Eliza nodded, handed her brother over, and slid into the far end of the second seat. Jereni placed Todd next to his sister and settled back into her original position as Danny clambered into the front next to Gale.

"Where've you got in mind?" Gale asked, looking at Jereni in the rearview mirror.

"Civic center. There's someone there who owes me a favor. Oh, and Gale? Hurry."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny slumped into his seat, dazed beyond comparison. His mind seemed to have quit on him, and it felt as though he had used all of his strength getting in the van. To keep the night's events from replaying in his mind, he tried concentrating on the conversation that Gale and Jereni were having with Eliza. At any other time, the coincidence of finding a ride just as they desperately needed to get out of there would have set Danny on edge, but now he was just grateful to let someone else deal with all of this for once. The two were explaining something to his friend, but his mind refused to comprehend it. Instead, he allowed their words to exist as an incomprehensible mumble, hoping that it would drown out the silence echoing through his head.

Placing a hand against the window, he gave a half-hearted attempt to phase it through the glass. He really wasn't surprised when it remained solid, and the glass, which should have given way with more ease than water, enclosed him like it would anyone else. There was very little doubt in his mind that he would encounter the same result if he were to try to fly or turn invisible or use any of his other powers. Without them, he wouldn't be able to fight when the minotaur came back, as he had a strong feeling it would.

Not that his powers had exactly been a big help in the first place. Insofar, he had been easily spotted by two amateur paranormalists, attracted the attention of a wayward ghost, and nearly gotten Todd killed. This last part was what stung him the most- that he had gotten his friends in danger and found himself unable to keep them safe. He hadn't even been able to fight off the mist when it took Phantom, Danny's....

_My what? My spirit? My soul? My other self? I don't even know what he is, and I didn't even think he was there at first. And now I've lost him...._

He trembled, momentarily at the mercy of his emotions. It felt like there was a gaping wound somewhere between his head and his chest, which was spreading (if such a thing were possible) an aching numbness throughout his body. A dry sob escaped his lips as he laid his head against the window. To his feverish cheek, the glass felt quite cool to the touch.

"I'm sorry, Danny," Gale said, suddenly cutting through Danny's thoughts.

"Huh?" was the boy's intelligent reply.

Gale took one hand off the wheel long enough to flash his Rolex in Danny's direction. "You don't show up as green anymore. You're yellow, just like the rest of us."

Danny shook his head miserably, not wanting this last bit of evidence rubbed in his face. "You know, I don't feel so good," he whispered before blacking out.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Mwahaha. I'm so mean to Danny. And it's not just me- it's all his fans! I'm going to have to write something to fix that.... No worries, we shall find out what happens to Conley, Jazz, Phantom, and Eidolon in the next chapter. Anyway, this fic is dedicated to Brad Bird, who directed the coolest frickin' movie on the planet since Spirited Away (_The Incredibles,_ as though that needed clarification). Kudos also to Mar, KimuraSato, and Ghostly Hamburger, for getting back to me on such sort notice and being overall good betas.

**Anomaly25: -**gets all teary-eyes- Oh, what can I say? The very best thing someone can do is compliment the writer on his/her style. Here. You can have Buddy's rocket-boot things.

**Ghostly Hamburger:** Ah, indeed, indeed. You get an Increds poster.

**Firehedgehog:** Sigh. What can one do? You can have Mirage's bling-blingin' business card.

**Snow Owl 2: **Woah, did you change your name or something? Yes, clichés suck. Glad I surprised you. Think I might have a trick or two up my sleeves- I dunno, I mean, the way the whole Conley deal worked out.... sigh. Gotta love cliffhangers, neh? You can have Syndrome's mask.

**Shindou-kun and Ryu-sama: **Hey, since you're all split-personality-ish, could you explain to me what -kun and -sama mean? You can have the tack that Dash made his teacher sit on.

**KimuraSato:** I know. I don't give my betas half the respect they deserve. You get to listen to me slog around ideas for an Increds fic. That's priceless, okay? And don't change the sequel to YS on account of me! I mean, I'm certainly not the first person to think up separating Danny and Phantom.

**Silver Latias: **Please, please, "Take a Look in the Mirror" far surpasses this (and I'm not just playing The Game). Too bad it hasn't been updated in, like, forever. Yeah, the genre changed, but I think the rating will stay the same. The sequels, now, might be PG-13, just in case. Or maybe not. I dunno. You're doing a research paper as well? Mine is about He Who Is Named Ray Bradbury. You get a DVD of the Increds before it's even left theatres.

**Destiny's Dragon:** Cool name, dude. Of course I shall keep writing! I might fall over dead if I did not continue my writing!

**Axion-Pup: **Dude, I cannot get over the fact that you changed your name from PSDog. -sighs and laughs- Yeah, I wasn't really thinking when I gave you your last gift. Today, I grant thee an Incredibles-themed Rubber Ducky Water Slide, to be put to use in six months or so.

**cheerin4danny:** Yeah, part of Todd's soul now rests with Eidolon. There's a scary though. Stay tuned to see how else I torture these poor characters of mine! You get to babysit Jack-Jack.

**FicFan:** Kick some butt? What an excellent idea! It's high time that Eliza took part in some butt-kicking, and I know just the thing to do it with. -Insert Evil Grin Here- You get the cup that Lucius Best drank from in order to freeze that cop dude in the movie.

**Liaranne: **Ah, I love that name. It rocks. Yeah, I left the adults alone for a chapter, but hopefully this one has remedied that. I'm glad you liked the part with Conley- looking over it again, I'm struck with how clichéd it is. Sigh. You get a half-off coupon to get your very own supersuit from Edna Mode.

**SawCyn-WroteSin: **Come on, dude, you gotta tell me the story behind your pen name. And seeing how I'm female, I believe that I would be a bitch, not a bastard. Silly goose. Didn't I tell you not to eat popcorn? Geez. That's natural selection for you. You get the Omnidroid Mark Ten.

**PhantomHeart37: **I'm sorry that you didn't understand the last bit of chapter eight. Yes, Phantom and Danny are now separate entities. You get Violet's hairband she starts wearing at the end of the movie.

**Windwaker: **Geez, stop spazzing, okay? I'm not going to stop writing DSC until the words "The" and "End", which shall be used in conjunction. You get an Increds-themed lunchbox.

So, as I wrap this chapter up, let me tell you that my goal is to finish this story by the first of the year. I want it over and done with! I think that I have 2-3 chapters to go, but only if they're really, really long. So. Expect more soon. You can see what's up at my writing blog, which is in my bio, or you can use this broken link: www(dot)livejournal(dot)com(slash)users(slash)wormmonabc(slash).


	13. Confrontations

December 25, 2004: Well, well, well. Here I am again, and out with a special holiday chapter! Well, it doesn't have to do with Christmas or winter, but it's out two days early, so suck it up, you little buggers. Took me three days to write this thing- one for each of the three sections. So. I can write a lot in a short amount of time. Just have school, dangit.

References in this chapter: Just one for _The Sixth Sense_.

Okay, a few things you should know before you start reading: the first part has good old-fashioned flashbacks in it. Conley's basically remembering what happened to his partner roughly six months prior to DSC. They're denoted by a block of italicized text. **Also**, I have Eidolon and Phantom in the same scene. Before getting confused, remember: "the spirit" refers to Eidolon, and "the ghost" refers to Phantom.

This OFtR is "Of Nursery Rhymes and Christmas Trees" by AsoftGoodbye. It's for "Lost", or "The Coolest Series to Hit Prime-Time Since X-Files, Baby!". Ahem. This is Charley/Claire (squee!) and is PG.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City  
Chapter Ten: Confrontations

Taking the Fenton Ghost Laser from his coat pocket, Conley twirled it around expertly. There was a switch to set the gun from manual shooting to an auto-locked target, along with the settings "blast", "stun", and "decimate". Jack had said the laser was powered only by the presence of a ghost, making it useless at any other time. He aimed the weapon, wishing he could try it out at least once; he didn't feel comfortable using it cold.

A blast of wind gusted through the park, sending a chill message that autumn was almost at its end. The partygoers were dispersing one by one, which was a relief; the fewer potential witnesses, the better. Despite Eidolon's claim to have hidden them from view, Conley didn't particularly trust the spirit, especially since last time.

_Out of nowhere, the green ectoplasmic blast hit her squarely on the chest. The brunette hadn't stood a chance. Her body rocketed backwards, skidding to a halt on the rough asphalt._

_"Kathleen!" Conley shouted, abandoning the goal to rush to his partner's side._

Pulling his jacket around him tighter, he tried to convince himself that he trembled because it was cold. Memory and introspection were two things that he wasn't particularly keen on delving into at the moment. He glanced over at Jazz, still curled up on the bench and snoring peacefully. She was oblivious of what the night would bring, and Conley would have loved nothing more in the world than to join her.

The redhead gave a slight shiver, and he realized that the only thing separating Jazz from the cold was a simple long-sleeved shirt. With a shrug, Conley loosened his trench coat and draped it over her shoulders. He watched her quivering cease, and allowed himself a small smile. The breeze ruffled her hair, blowing a strand of it across her face. She snuggled deeper into the blanket as Conley brushed it back into place, ignoring the sour taste in the back of his mouth.

_Long lashes fluttered open as a thread of blood unwound itself from her mouth. "I- don't worry, I'm okay, I- it doesn't even hurt anymore...."_

_In a shudder, Kathleen's final breath left her body, and a glassy sheen came over her eyes._

"You won't get hurt," he whispered to Jazz's sleeping form. "I promise."

"Haven't you learned to stop making promises you're entirely unable to keep?"

Mentally groaning, Conley stood up and straightened his turtleneck. His hand went to the silver pendent around his neck out of habit, and he slipped it under his collar.

"Impeccable timing as always, Eidolon. I don't even want to know how long you were watching me this time."

Eidolon shrugged, the most human gesture Conley had ever seen it perform. "Your kind amuses me, with your mixed emotions and conflicting interests. You can do **nothing **without questioning your own motives!"

"_No...." Conley reeled back, feeling sick to his stomach. He tore his eyes away from her body and leapt to his feet. Three paces into his mad dash, an icy hand grabbed him by the arm._

"_Forget something?" the spirit hissed in his ear. "You have a mission to complete."_

"_But Kathleen! She's...."_

"Once, you, too, were alive," he said quietly, still facing Jazz.

It gaze a toothy grin at Conley's back. "Aye, boy. I was once like you. And soon you shall be like me. But enough of that. Look and see what I've brought."

In Eidolon's arms was a boy who, though young, held himself as a fighter. His white hair was held with contrasting starkness against the black of the spirit's cloak, and his bright green eyes glared defiantly.

"Hey, I know you, you're...." Conley turned around, snapping his fingers as though suddenly remembering the name. "Phantom, right?"

The ghost did not respond.

Conley shook his head and tutted. "Do you know how much trouble we went to capture you? And now it seems to have been a piece of cake for my accomplice. How would you rate it, Eidolon?"

From within the spirit's smoky hood came a wicked smile. Though it and the boy couldn't stand the presence of the other, they had worked out a routine for times like this. Things went a lot smoother if captives believed themselves to be held by two cooperating baddies.

"Oh, on a scale of one to ten? About a two. Maybe even a three, just to give the little phantom some credit."

"_She's what, boy?" Eidolon asked, clearly enjoying Conley's panic. "Oh, you mean **dead**? Yes, it would appear so. Oh, boo-hoo. What a crying shame."_

"Well?" Conley asked, smirking. "Aren't you going to fight, beg, or otherwise attempt escape?"

Still glaring, Phantom opened his mouth and spit at the other boy. It landed about a foot short of its intended target, eliciting a chuckle from Eidolon.

"I can't break free, and I'm not about to start begging, so there's not much I can do at the moment. Sorry for disappointing." His voice was laced with sarcasm and heavy contempt.

The ghost was partly held by Eidolon's cloaked arms, partly by a blanket of black mist. In fact, the spirit itself wasn't completely solid; it struck an almost perfect balance between smoke and cloak. Conley raised an eyebrow, but did not comment, instead turning his attention back to Phantom. He could see the way anger flashed in his eyes, and knew he was quickly tiring of their game.

"What's the matter, little ghostie?" he taunted. "Don't find our jokes funny?"

Phantom remained silent. In the next instant, his muscles tensed and he launched himself at Conley, throwing Eidolon completely off guard. He swung out at Conley, but the older teen simply stepped aside and allowed the blow to glance off his jaw. Carried by pure momentum, Phantom toppled through the air several feet before he managed to bring himself to a stop. He hovered, not quite believing that he had broken free that easily.

"You know, if I were you, I'd come back right now."

"Why should I?" Phantom's eyes narrowed.

_Conley looked at the spirit first with astonishment, then anger. "You said- you said we would be safe. You said that we wouldn't get hurt!"_

"_So I overestimated my power. What do I care if the Ghost Zone has one more inhabitant? But you have no reason to worry- **your** shield held. You, for the moment, are still among the living."_

"Because." There was a sharp click as Conley trained the laser's sight on Jazz. "That's why."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Unconsciousness, one might note, is a beautiful thing. Even simply dozing, a person is rendered blissfully unaware of their surroundings. Jazz, for example, had no clue that a gun was ever pointed in her direction, and was all the better for it. A few blocks off, on the opposite side of the highway, her brother was in a similar state. Instead of inebriation, his sleep was brought on by being pushed to the limits of human endurance.

Mercifully, his sleep was dreamless; for the moment, Danny was allowed to ignore the pulsating void in his mind. All good things must come to an end, unfortunately, and soon coherent thought snuck in and hit the boy like the proverbial ton of bricks.

The first thing that Danny became aware of was being helped into a sitting position. A paper cup pressed against his chapped lips, and he drank gratefully. He let the water sit in his mouth for a few seconds before swallowing it all in one gulp- an attempt that left him spluttering and coughing for breath. Someone held up his arm and hit his back, effectively clearing up his air passage. When Danny felt certain the choking had stopped, he chanced opening his eyes.

He immediately wished he hadn't. A penlight was held up directly to his eye, and he drew back instinctively.

"Sorry bout that, buddy, but I had to check to see that your pupils were dilating normally." There was a click, and the light went off. "Looks like they are."

"Best news I've heard all day," Danny muttered. He tried to stand up, but a pair of hands blocked his movement.

"Whoa there, take it easy. You don't want to be moving around too soon, especially right after fainting like that."

Danny tentatively opened his eyes again, and this time nothing was flashed in his face. The room was actually pretty dark- the only light came from the crack under the door and the glow of a laptop. Over the screen was hunched figure, fingers flying over the keys.

"I didn't _faint_, okay?" Danny said irritably.

Looking up, the man chuckled and adjusted his glasses. "'Faint: Verb. To lose consciousness due to shock, loss of blood, exhaustion, etcetera.' Now, you can argue with Webster all you want...."

Casually, he leaned over in his chair and flipped on the light switch. Harsh fluorescence stabbed at Danny's retina, and his insides performed a cartwheel. He moaned and took a deep breath in a vain attempt to steady himself. The man passed him a trashcan, and with a shudder he dispelled his dinner.

"Believe it or not," the man said when there was a pause in Danny's barfing, "this is a very good sign. Your body reacting this way means that it's getting itself out of shock."

Danny wiped a sleeve across his mouth. "I think I'd rather deal with the shock." Peering curiously at the man, who had thin black hair shot with gray streaks, he had the weird feeling of déjà vu.

"Naw, shock is pretty nasty," the man said, giving his head a shake. "Leads to comas and total system shutdown. But, if your stomach is settled, mind telling me how you broke your arm?"

"Uh...." Danny looked down and realized that his left arm had been set in makeshift cast. The pain had devolved to a dull throb every couple of seconds. "I kinda got tossed against a wall."

"Yep, that'll do it. Your ulna- the little bone in your lower arm- snapped in half. It was fairly clean, which made it a whole lot easier to set." He took an approving look at the cast. "Of course, you'll have to get a proper one at the hospital, but this'll do for now."

The man held out a hand and Danny accepted it awkwardly.

"Hal Brighton, M. D. Specialize in paranormal afflictions, or basically anything not covered in your conventional medical textbooks."

"I'm Danny Fenton."

"So your friend has told me. She's been racing between rooms since Jereni showed up with you all in tow."

"Eliza?" Danny said, perking up. His demeanor suddenly fell, though, and he asked in hushed tones, "How's her brother doing?"

Hal sighed and sat back in his chair heavily. "Physically, the only thing that's wrong with him is a bruise on his neck- no crushed vertebrae or anything like that- but otherwise.... Part of his soul is gone."

Danny felt the floor drop out from under him. "Does that mean he's going to....?"

"To tell the truth, I don't know. This is incredibly traumatic, especially for someone Todd's age. Though his soul should begin to heal itself, it won't ever be completely whole again. At the moment, he seems to be stabilized, but...." Hal shook his head again.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that there's not really much we can do but sit and wait."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

In the next room over, Todd lay on a countertop acting as a makeshift stretcher. His sister, settled in a chair, watched him intently as his chest gently rose and fell. There came a hesitant knock on the door.

"It's open," Eliza called in a flat voice.

Edging the door open, Danny peered in the room. Eliza glanced up long enough to acknowledge his presence, then returned her gaze to Todd.

"How're you doing?" she asked quietly.

Danny eyed Todd. "I'll live. Hal set a cast for my arm but it's only temporary."

Eliza nodded. "What did he say about your- about the...." She gestured vaguely. "You know, your other half."

Danny shrugged his right shoulder. "He didn't really talk about that. He did say that.... well, Eliza, Todd's not in very good shape, and...." Danny trailed off, unable to tell her exactly what Hal had said.

The redhead gave a sad smile. "No one ever told you the story of when Todd was born, did they?"

"No, I don't think so," Danny said, wondering what she was getting at..

"Well, he was nine weeks early. I remember going to the hospital, and seeing how tiny he was. He could have fit into a tissue box. Some of his organs were still underdeveloped, and the doctors didn't have much hope that he would make it through the night.

"He did, to everyone's amazement, and made it through a couple more nights. They took him off life support on the sixth day, and in a few weeks, he was finally allowed to come home.

"The thing is, Danny, is that after fighting so hard to survive, Todd has _earned_ a shot at life, more so than you or me or a lot of other people. And for me to be told that he lost his chance just like that...."

"We'll find a way to fix everything. Don't worry."

Eliza gave a snort of disbelief. "Please, let's be realistic! You can't do anything. I can't do anything. Gale and Jereni and Hal have done enough already. You think that those ghosts are just going to show up and make everything right out of the goodness of their hearts?" Her voice had risen to near hysterics. "God, I've never felt so helpless before! I want to do something, _anything_ to keep my brother from going through anymore...." She hung her head in shame and whispered, "But I can't."

She took a shaky breath, and Danny thought that she was about to cry. Between the two of them, he didn't know who had it worse; himself, who had already lost something, or Eliza, who was facing the same possibility. He sat down in the chair beside her and pulled the girl into a stiff, one-armed hug.

"I know exactly how you feel," he said in empathy. "I wish I could have been stronger. Sometimes, and especially now, I wish I never got my powers in the first place."

"Don't say that," Eliza whispered, laying her head in the crook of his shoulder. "Neither of us would be alive right now if it weren't for you. You fought off the minotaur, remember?"

"It would have never shown up in the first place if it wasn't for me," Danny said bitterly. "Todd wouldn't have gotten hurt if it wasn't for me."

Eliza closed her eyes, unable to bring herself to deny what he'd said. Somewhere deep down, she agreed with him. No one would have gotten heard if it hadn't been for _him_....

Guiltily, she realized where her thoughts were taking her and felt a stab of self-loathing. No matter how harsh she would be on Danny, he would be a million times worse on himself.

"Where are you going?" he asked as Eliza stood up.

"Just going to stretch my legs for a bit. Hey, Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"Look after Todd until I get back, okay?"

"Uh, sure," Danny said, a bit surprised at her request. "What's up?"

"I think," Eliza said as she reached the door, "that I have an idea."

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Jazz! Danny! Eliza! What are they up to? Tune in next week to find out!

Oh, and it seems like my fans have forgotten me- I got three reviews for chapter nine. :P Gah, the fandom has really grown since October! All these really junkie stories that stink, and maybe fifteen, twenty percent are worth reading. :P Bah! Humbug. But for you three reviewers, thanks! 90 reviews even! I rock! -does Patented Dance of Ninety Reviews©-

**Anomaly25: **Yeah, remind me to read your fic sometime. As to whether or not Danny and Phantom get back together (sounds like a soap opera!), you gotta keep reading! Nyah. Your Christmas present is an X-Box with the first ever Danny Phantom videogame.

**Axion-Pup: **Wow. To cause that kind of emotional reaction in a reader is something that professional writers only dare _dream_ of. -sniffles- I feel so loved! And Lil' Cujo (the dog on SoG) is cute. Yeah, the Increds rocks! Must.... get.... that.... DVD.... Your gift will come next week. Trust me, you'll love it. It brings out your eyes!

**Silver Latias: **I know, doesn't it suck that "Take a Look in the Mirror" hasn't been updated in, like, forever? I wonder if the author is even aware that it has gained a fan following.... Your gift is the first two seasons of Danny Phantom (hey, I'm being optimistic) on DVD.

This chapter is dedicated to my buddy Lunabird, _again_, who made a guest appearance in this chapter. She just got someone to host her site- holy Cheetos, is she lucky! Just updated her site: http:www(dot)geocities(dot)com(slash)auquair(slash). Observe all the pretty art. Oooh. Shiny.

That's it for today, folks. Merry Christmas to all, eh? Hope y'all got more than you needed, if not all that you wanted. Be back by New Years.


	14. Talk of Ghosts

**January 9, 2005:** Da-da! Da da da da daaaa! :D Hear that? That was the "Ellen's got a new chapter of DSC up for her fans to read" theme song. And I know I'm, like, a week late, but what the crap. I typed it up on my Palm Pilot, and then it wouldn't get to my computer, and.... well, I'm sure that you get the picture. This is a very slow chapter- mainly, it's me testing out my theories on the ghosts and stuff in DP.

Last chapter's reference: I pulled Kathleen's dying words directly from _The Sixth Sense_. No references this chapter- giving the litigious folks out there a break.

This chapter's OFtR is "Ghost's Best Friend" by Axion-Pup. It's about a dog who is half-ghost thanks to an ectoplasmic sandwich. -nods- Go forth and read, my minions! Right after you finish this chapter, of course.

**Note: **Before anyone asks, I have placed Jack, Maddie, Eric, and Katrina in a plothole. I got myself backed into a corner, and just rewrote the laws of physics to deal with it. When DSC undergoes the rewrite, I will have the adults somewhere where they contribute. For now.... just pretend that they're in a movie. Or at the carnival. Or climbing Ayer's Rock. Yeah.

* * *

Danny in Star City  
Chapter Eleven: Talk of Ghosts 

The door swung open and Danny looked up, anticipating Eliza's return. Instead of the girl, it was Hal that made his way into the room.

"I wondered where you went," the doctor said mildly. "I should have guessed you'd be in here, though." He set a duffle bag in the vacant chair and took a look at Todd. "Any change with the boy?"

"He hasn't moved or woken up since we got here," said Danny.

"Hm. But he is breathing easier, I notice."

"And that's good, right?"

Hal smiled. "Yes. It's a very good sign, Danny. It means that his body is becoming stabilized all on its own."

"So, does that mean that he'll live?"

"Don't want to jinx it, so I'll say nothing." He put a finger on Todd's wrist. "Pulse is completely normal for someone his age while sedentary."

"You know someone's pulse after a few seconds?"

"Comes from going to medical school," Hal said modestly. "Now, listen, there's a hypodermic and a small vial in the duffle. Get them for me, there's a good lad."

Danny made a face as he rooted through the bag. Underneath a small collection of normal medical gear he found the requested items and brought them up to the older man.

"You sounded British when you said that," he said, taking a closer look at the vial. It was tinted, making it impossible to discern what exactly it contained.

"Thank you. That would come from being married to an Englishwoman for ten years."

"What's in that, anyway?" Danny asked as Hal uncapped the vial.

"What, in here? Take a look and tell me."

It was halfway filled with a green substance a bit thicker than pancake syrup. A bubble floated to the surface and popped, and it reminded Danny of-

"Ectoplasm? You're going to inject him with _ectoplasm?_ He's not a ghost!" _At least, not yet, _he added silently.

"Thank you for that keen observation. Being a ghost has nothing to do with it. Calm down. You're starting to hyperventilate." Holding the needle up to the light, Hal filled it with the green liquid.

"I don't see how it would help," Danny said in exasperation.

"I don't doubt it," Hal said, rolling up Todd's sleeve. "I mean, I'm one of maybe, like, five people in the country who actually gets this stuff."

Danny was annoyed that Hal was taking him so lightly. "But since ghosts are made out of ectoplasm and humans are made out of.... uh, matter, I guess, then ectoplasm _couldn't_ help."

"Oh, you are so wrong there. People and ghosts both have matter _and_ ectoplasm, just in different amounts. It makes sense when you think about it. If ghosts didn't have some type of matter, they couldn't keep a shape on this side of the 'spiritual plane', or whatever that hippie calls it-"

"Who?"

"Um.... that'd be Jereni, but do me a favor and don't tell her I called her that. Anyway," he said, sticking Todd's shoulder, "ghosts couldn't keep a form over here if they don't have any matter, see?"

"So..... would ectoplasm let a human have form in the Ghost Zone? What?" Danny said defensively as Hal started to chuckle. "It's what they call it!"

"Nothing. Sounds like something in a B-rated sci-horror movie, that's all. No, but good guess. It'd be nice if things could work out logically like that. The ectoplasm in human beings is inside them, but you wouldn't find it if you cut one up. You know that matter exists in three forms- solid, liquid, and gas, right?"

Hal moved the duffle from the chair and sat down. Danny nodded and sat beside him, wondering what the heck he was getting at.

"Well, let's start by assuming that ectoplasm follows the same rule. You've got the kind that looks like green goop, the kind that gives ghosts their forms, and the kind inside humans."

"But you can't see it...."

"Exactly."

Danny gave a snort. "That doesn't sound very scientific. Something you can't see would be pretty hard to convince to other doctors."

"No one doubts the existence of loneliness, or love."

"Yeah, but that's.... that's.... different," the boy said weakly. "Oh, whatever. So what is this 'ectoplasm' in people?" He paused as something occurred to him. "Is it the soul?"

Hal grimaced. "Talk about not very scientific.... okay, look, Danny, I don't even want to get into that. We can see what effects the soul has, and I can diagnose Todd's problem, but as for what it is.... man, that's getting into spiritualism, and there, no one's sure about anything. You're on the right track, though. There are tons of parts to a human besides the physical body. " He started to tick the list off with his fingers. "Mind. Heart. Spirit. Soul. Essence. Will. Self. Granted, most of these are just different names for the same thing, but you get the gist of it."

"So, besides the body and the soul, there's something else that makes up a human?" When Hal nodded, Danny gave an aggravated sigh. "Why can't you just say it already instead of telling me all this stuff?"

"Two reasons: one, you wouldn't understand if I didn't give you all this background info, and two, I want to see how close your guesses get."

Closing his eyes, Danny rubbed his temple. He didn't particularly feel like playing guessing games at the moment, though he did appreciate Hal's attempt at distracting him from being separated from his ghost. All this paranormal talk was a little interesting, even though it sounded like something his parents might spout at him. It sounded just like their ghost-related jargon-

_Wait a second..._

"Ghosts. The third part to a human is their ghost."

Hal gave a satisfied smile. "Nail on the head. That's where the ectoplasm is. It's usually dormant until the person dies, but in some- ah, _unusual_ cases, the ectoplasm becomes active."

"Halfas."

"Geez, who comes up with these names? I mean, Ghost Zone, halfa? Come on."

Secretly, Danny agreed with him- in retrospect, just about everything connected to the whole ghost deal seemed a little ridiculous.

"So everyone has a Phantom?"

Hal grinned. "You named it?"

"It- he named himself, I think."

The doctor leaned forward curiously. "Is- er, Phantom his own person?"

Danny shrugged. "I don't really know. I mean, it's only been these past few days that I've really started to notice.... It's like, sometimes a thought will go through my head, but I'm not really the one thinking it. And especially with my powers- he kinda taught me how to fly and phase. It's weird, I can't really explain it.... sorry."

Hal shook his head. "No, don't be. I wouldn't have a clue if you could. There are very few people who would."

"Like who?" Danny tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. This, along with what Gale had said earlier, more than hinted at the existence of other halfas- of other people like him.

Hal shrugged and said vaguely, "Just some people."

Danny decided to take a chance. "Like.... Vlad Masters?"

A blank look crossed Hal's face. "Who?"

"But I thought- oh, crap, there's a _third _halfa?"

"Apparently. I mean, I haven't heard of this Vlad guy, and the person I was referring to- well, I haven't seen them for a while. Still, I would never have guessed...." The doctor shook his head in amazement. "There might even be more. There's no way of knowing- well, except for those little watch doo-hickeys that Jereni made, but it's not like you can scan every person in the country-"

"I thought that the ectoplasm becoming active was rare," Danny interrupted. "You're making it sound like halfas are everywhere."

"Well.... not everyone with active ectoplasm, it seems, becomes a halfa."

"What else could happen to them?"

"Uh, well, you know, the human body isn't really designed to deal with anything but dormant ecto, and they can't handle it turning active, so their bodies..... shut down. "

"You mean they die?" Danny looked horrified.

"Not all of them," Hal said quickly. "A few of them get separated from their ghosts. It's not really as rare as you might think. About one person in a hundred goes through their life without a ghost, and they don't even know anything is wrong. And then there are people like you-" he gestured to Danny, "-who, somehow, can survive with active ectoplasm."

"That doesn't do me much help," Danny said quietly. "It doesn't change the fact that Phantom's gone."

Hal sighed. "No, it doesn't, and I can only imagine what you must be going through. I honestly don't know what's going to happen. I don't think that someone like- a halfa has ever lost their ghost before. It didn't kill you, and you seem to be okay- well, physically speaking, at any rate. By the way-"

The door flew open on its hinges, effectively interrupting the doctor. Jereni stood in the doorway, looking terribly upset.

"Jereni, what's the matter?" Hal asked, standing up.

"It's- it's Gale," she said frantically. "I can't find him, or Eliza either. They're gone."

* * *

Ha! I didn't tell y'all what was up with Conley and them! -laughs at fans- That will be next week. This fic looks like it's going to be a lot longer than I originally thought. I'm thinking maybe twenty chapters. I want it over by the end of February so I can start on the sequel before I leave on my trip to England. (That would be for eleven days over spring break.) If you want more info, check out my writing blog, folks! Link's in either chapter nine or ten, or in my bio. 

My fans haven't forgotten about me! I feel so loved. :D 100 reviews! I am so cool! -does the "I'm a cool bean" dance- Since we spent lots of money at Wal-Mart today on groceries, I shall be dispersing various food-related items to my reviewers. Feel the lurve, you guys!

**fubukis-wraph:** Dude, I do not even want to _know_ where that name came from. Oh, I'm not about to stop writing. You can have some low-fat turkey pepperoni slices.

**Cheerin4danny:** Did you just get an account on FFnet? Sweet, dude! Yeah, I'm sure that Jack-Jack can be a pain in the butt- but he's a _cute_ pain in the butt! You can have some pea-flavored baby food to keep the little dickens occupied.

**G.I.R.'s shadow: **Love your name, by the way- matches with the fic that I've just started on the side of DSC. I want that Nick game, yo. Play as Danny.... -drools- You can have some Cherry Poop.

**Jazzeh: **Own? I own? -blinks- Why, yes, I do! Boo-yah, baby, all the way! And if you think that these last few chapters have owned, wait until the next one! Mwahahaha. You can have a chocolate bar imprinted with the visage of that certain person you have certain feelings towards. -winkwinknudgenudgehinthint-

**Snow Owl 2: **No worries, I don't think I got back to your email, either. Sorry. Thanks for the praise! You can have some nice, pre-sliced mandarin oranges.

**mcrystal: **Thank you for the praise, my dear. For your time, you get seven slightly-green bananas.

**Me: **I know! Geez! I am getting to the point where I won't read a fic if it's got D/S in it. -sticks out tongue- I'm all for Danny/Valerie and Tucker/Sam, myself. You get a vegetarian egg roll- MSG-free!

**Anomaly25: **I can't wait either! In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that it wasn't written, I'd post the twelfth chapter of DSC right now! -nods sagely- You can have a bag of shredded fat-free cheddar cheese.

**Axion-Pup: **Don't hurt Conley! I need him for the sequels! Hope you liked your gift- this chapter, you get Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries, part of this complete breakfast for rubber duckies everywhere.

**Blossoming Orange Rose: **That's a beautiful name- it'd make a nice avatar. Is that your name for your FFnet account? I'd like to read one of your stories. Your gift is an almost-full package of flour tortillas.

**Lateraina Wolf: **Man, everyone has a better penname than me! -pouts- I laugh out loud at stories, too. I have to stuff my fist in my mouth to keep the 'rents from hearing, elsewise they look at me funny. Yes.... more shall be revealed about Conley and his boss as the fic progresses. Most of it will be kept in the shadows until one of the sequels, though.

**Cat o'theWind: **Who told you that you need to say something interesting in a review? The fact that you reviewed is enough for me. You get a box of Wheat Thins as a present.

This chapter is dedicated to my friend Chevy, who's going through a bit of a rough spot right now. School isn't treating her right, the poor dear. That just goes to show you how much suckage is in the American Public Schooling System! Bah, I say!

....anywho, there shouldn't be that much of a wait for chapter twelve, in which we get back to Phantom and Eliza. Toodles.


	15. Interesting Developments

**August 1, 2005: **I know, I know. Eight months is a long time between chapters. I truly do apologize to my readers. All I can say is that I got cold feet- DSC was going off in directions I'd never even planned, and I felt like I didn't know what I was doing. I struggled with the question of whether or not I actually wanted to continue with the storyline. 

Looks like I did.

To new readers, welcome; to old readers, welcome back.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City  
Chapter Twelve: Interesting Developments  
Word count: 3,388 words

Phantom hovered uncertainly, looking from Conley to the laser to its target. The redhead on the bench was only a few feet away, and couldn't possibly be missed.

Something vaguely familiar about the girl tugged at Phantom's mind, and he floated closer to get a better look. It was right on the tip of his tongue... Her sleeping form, her headband, her face- yes, he knew her face, he was certain of that.

"You look confused," Conley said. "Don't you even remember your own sister?"

_Sister? _

The word caused a surge of memory to go through the ghost's mind. Jazz, yes, that was her name, and she was his older sister- no,

Danny's older sister- but he was Danny, wasn't he? Phantom shook his head, trying to clear it of the sudden swirl of thoughts and images. He could deal with the identity crisis later.

"You wouldn't dare," he said to the other boy.

Conley snorted. "Please. Try me."

"But she didn't do anything!"

"You think that matters? Listen, I-" he gestured to himself, "-am a bad guy. You-" he gestured to the ghost, "-are not cooperating. She-" he pointed at Jazz, "-is how I will make you cooperate. Can't get any simpler than that."

"You wouldn't," Phantom repeated desperately. "It'd be cold-blooded murder."

"Do you really want to make that bet? Now, come back down to earth, would you?"

Slowly, Phantom dropped to the ground. He landed directly in front of Jazz, staring calmly at Conley.

"And I don't even have to move my arm," Conley said, smirking as he moved his finger to the trigger.

"You'll miss."

"Excuse me?" Conley said, frowning.

"That's what you're afraid of. You're worried that your aim will be off and you'll hit Jazz instead."

There was definite uncertainty in Conley's stance now. Had the ghost read his mind? Quickly, he shoved that thought to the side, deciding that his adversary had just gotten lucky, or maybe he, himself, had been broadcasting his feelings too loudly.

"I'll have you know that I'm a very good marksman. I'm not going to miss."

"But what if you do?" the ghost persisted.

Conley hesitated, and his arm gave the briefest of trembles.

Smoothly, Eidolon sidled up to the teen. It hissed in his ear, and though Phantom couldn't catch the words, he still saw the hatred flicker over the other boy's face. There was almost hope he wouldn't shoot.

That hope died when he reached forward with one finger, pressed down on a switch, and fired.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

There was one interesting thing to be said of the auto-lock of the Fenton Ghost Laser: it did not necessarily target the paranormal being directly in front of the shooter. Instead, it went for the one closest to the weapon at the time it was fired. Phantom was very close- only about two yards away, and right in the path of the blast. However- and there's always, always a "however"- Eidolon was standing right beside Conley. The spirit noticed this a little too late.

"What do you think you're-"

It didn't get to finish. The golden pendent on its chest took the brunt of the bright green blast and shattered; as for the rest of the spirit, it dissolved almost instantly, tendrils of mist the only thing marking its departure.

Phantom gave a relieved sigh, letting out all the building tension. He had successfully caught Conley's bluff, but... what if he _hadn't_ been bluffing?

"I knew it," he said, giving a small smile. "You wouldn't do anything to hurt her."

"Well, congratulations, little ghostie," Conley said, with no trace amount of bitterness. "You guessed right." He turned and started to walk off.

"Hey! Wait, where are you going?" Phantom asked, floating after him.

The blond shrugged, not turning around. "Does it matter? I just killed off- _destroyed_ my boss's favorite henchman, and have a very slim chance at completing my mission. Do you have any idea how messy this is going to get?"

It was Phantom's turn to frown. "Messy? I don't understand."

Conley gave a low chuckle as he finally turned around to face the ghost, lifting the laser up. Phantom saw too late that, in following the other boy, he had lost Jazz as cover. He opened his mouth to talk-

-and a flash of green-

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

"Now, explain to me what we're doing exactly, again."

Gale glanced sideways at the girl in the passenger's seat. "You said it yourself: you saw the minotaur steal something of Todd's. We're going to get it back."

"By finding the ghost that took it."

"Exactly."

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard. I mean, there are only so many places that a giant minotaur can hide."

"Ghosts can turn invisible."

"Oh." Eliza's face fell, and the look was so priceless that Gale had to laugh.

"There's a tracker in the van. See?" He tapped part of the dashboard that doubled as a glass screen. There were bright dots of moving light sprinkled seemingly at random. "Yellow dots are the humans. Blue dots are the ghosts."

"But..." Eliza's eyes bugged out as she did a mental calculation of the blue dots onscreen. "There are dozens! How far does this thing track?"

"Let's see... one edge to the other is eight blocks, so I'd say about a square mile."

Letting out a low whistle, Eliza looked out the window. "How are we supposed to find the ghost we're looking for? I mean, lets say that even if we do manage to track that particular one, all it'd have to do is go invisible and hide with the others."

"You know, I've been thinking about that." Sighing, he tapped his finger impatiently on the steering wheel as he waited for the car in front of them to turn. "The tracker can distinguish between ghosts and humans, so it should be able to distinguish between souls and humans, too."

"'Should'. Well, if that isn't the most reassuring thing I've ever- wait, did you say _soul?"_

Gale shifted a bit in his seat. "I thought Hal or someone had told you."

Eliza shook her head. "I just thought that, well, if we could get that stuff the ghost took, then it might help my brother..." She shook her head again, this time with disbelief. "His _soul_. My God. So I'm right, then? About having to get it back. We bring back his- his soul, then he'll be better, right?"

"Theoretically."

"Theoretically?" Eliza repeated, then petitioned the Lord again. "So, why did we just split? I mean, I get that Hal needs to look after Todd, but why didn't you tell Jereni?"

"Is this where the ghost showed up?"

Turning her head, she looked down a very familiar alleyway. She could make out the beast's spear, still lodged in the wall.

"Yes. Now, don't change the subject. Can't Jereni help us?"

"Do you remember which way it went?"

Eliza sighed impatiently and tried to think. "It went that way." She pointed down the road across from the alley. "Then it turned right. But that would take it down Luck Avenue, towards the park..."

Steering the van down the road, it was Gale's turn to sigh. "I don't think that she would approve of this. She'd call it rash, among other things, and argue that it would be better until we know if this would actually help."

"But Todd might not have enough time! I mean, if we think we can help, we should."

"My sentiments exactly. And if she wasn't successful in stopping us, she'd want to come along. We don't need any more people on this little mission than absolutely necessary. You know what the ghost looks like and where it went; I know how to get Todd's soul back. No one else needs to be risked."

The allusion to possible danger didn't escape Eliza's notice, and neither did the fact that the man seemed to be holding something back.

"If we're going to be successful, we have to have at least some amount of trust between us."

"I do trust you," Eliza grumbled, sliding as far down as her seatbelt would allow. "Lord knows why, because you're a complete stranger and Todd is _my _brother."

Gale pulled into the back parking lot of the library, letting the car coast neatly to a stop at the edge of the building. The lights in the window were dim, suggesting that all but the cleaning crew had left for the night. It couldn't have been that long after eight, because Eliza had just heard the bell in the old Methodist church tower toll.

Eliza blinked, thoroughly confused. What was today? Friday sounded right, because Thanksgivings was the day before. And just that evening, she had been sitting down to eat a dinner she wasn't particularly thrilled with. Not that long ago, but it felt like it had been stretched out and stuffed to the brim with every kind of surprise imaginable. At the moment, all she wanted to do was go to sleep for a few days and wake up to find that the world had returned to its rightful order.

_And the chances of that happening are, what, one in a billion?_ She hopped out of the van and hurried to catch up with Gale.

Elmwood Park, bordering the downtown library on three sides, was really just a large field with trees obstructing the view of traffic. A path wandered through the field before diverging; one side doubled back on itself while the other continued into a copse of trees.

"This is where you saw the ghost go?" Gale asked, his voice low.

Eliza nodded. "It headed in this direction." Her arms prickled with goosebumps, though that may have just been from the sudden breath of wind. A faint rustling played with her ears, and she jerked her head around. When all she saw were abandoned party tents, she berated herself for being so jumpy. It must have been the fact that her system had been one big adrenalin rush for the past hour.

"Is anything here?" she asked, pulling her jacket closer. Now that the sun had been set, the temperature had plummeted low, even for late November.

Gale was checking his watch, noticed Eliza trying to surreptitiously catch a glance at it; he held out his wrist. "Yellow ones are humans. Blue ones are ghosts."

"Green ones are Danny?" she asked.

"Were Danny," he corrected gently.

"We might find his ghost around here too," she said stubbornly.

"Who knows? But let's focus on this first."

Gale cut across the grass and headed towards an outcropping of trees. Eliza lingered for a moment, looking at the relative safety of the library walls before following him.

"Right there, it shows a concentration of spectral energy," Gale pointed. "The dots are blurring together, but there's at least one ghost. Might even be the one we're looking for."

The closer they got to the grove, the more certain Eliza was that she heard voices. She could almost make out the words when something else filled her eardrums.

It sounded like the blast from a laser.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Conley heard the intruders long before they burst onto the scene. He'd always wondered why no one ever tried subtlety, like not walking in plain view, or not stepping on every stick and twig on the ground. Oh, well, he thought, as he met them in the copse. All the better for him.

"Hello, Gale."

The older man jumped, startled, but regained his composure. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you, though I could probably guess. Chasing rogue specters again, huh?"

"As a matter of fact, our tracker led us here. Where is it?"

"Gone," Conley said simply.

It was then Eliza noticed the weapon cradled in the boy's hand. Her blood ran cold.

"You- you _shot_ him?" She fought to keep her voice steady.

He laid her a cool gaze. "It tried to attack me."

"We don't know that it was Danny," Gale whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll go back to the car, and keep looking."

"I think," Conley interrupted, clearly enunciating each syllable, "you have more important things to worry about right now."

Eliza followed his gaze towards the mountains, and the giant star that was the namesake of Star City. It was nestled at the top of the nearest mountain, and about it-

-_above_ it-

-an unnatural flash of green mixed with sickly yellow-

The grip on Eliza's shoulder tightened. Gale seemed rooted to the spot, transfixed. He glared at Conley, looking as though he would hit the boy.

"What's going on?" Eliza demanded, eyes darting nervously between the two.

Gale opened his mouth, but seemed to think better of it. His hand dropped, and he sprinted back through the trees to the van. Leaving her alone with Conley.

"If you hurt Danny, I swear..."

"Oh, but I didn't hurt Danny," he said almost cheerfully. He paused, as though considering his words. "You're getting involved with something you shouldn't get involved with." He grinned at her in an entirely unpleasant manner. "I'd run while I still could."

She bit back a viscous retort as she turned, following Gale. "Gale? Gale, wait up," she called, breaking into a jog.

She missed the smirk the other boy threw at her back.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

"Tace? Put me through to the boss... What do you mean she's not there? Where is she? And don't give me that crap about need-to-know information... fine. Just tell her I'm done here. I'll be back in a few days."

Closing the cell phone, Conley gripped the object tightly in his fist. His hand was shaking as he lowered his arm.

He was already formulating what to tell his boss about Eidolon. She wouldn't be pleased to hear about her favorite underling. Well, he would tell her that it had been an accident. That was true: in order to keep from accidentally hitting Jazz, he'd switched the laser to auto-target. The first blast was meant for Phantom, but Eidolon had been closer. It was unfortunate to lose it, yes, and the fact that Conley had hated the spirit with every fiber of his being could be overlooked, but Phantom was out of action.

But not gone. When the blast hit the ghost, his eyes had rolled back and he had dropped to the ground. If Conley hadn't met Gale and that girl in the trees, they would have spotted Phantom. It had been far too close for his liking. Briefly, Conley wondered why the ghost's body remained while the spirit had been completely destroyed, but soon disregarded the difference; Eidolon had not been in the Ghost Zone for weeks and thus had an insubstantial body, whereas Phantom had very recently been with Danny.

He looked towards Jazz, still asleep after all this mess. It must have been some pretty strong liquor for her to have slept through all that, or maybe she just hadn't had a chance to build up any tolerance to alcohol. She was going to have one hell of a hangover when she finally woke up.

Pity that wouldn't be for another few hours... he would have liked to talk to her before he left, or at least seen her eyes one last time. They were the exact same hue that Kathleen's had been, one that he hadn't expected to see again.

So... really, he was done here. It was just a short walk to his car, and then he'd be out of this city. Never looking back.

But...

_Don't start this up again, _he told himself firmly. _No buts. She's safe, she didn't get hurt, and if you don't go now, you never will._

_But she didn't ask for any of this._

_Neither did you._

Gingerly, he stepped over the fallen phantom and kneeled beside the bench.

_This is stupid,_ the logical Conley said. _She's not going to know you did this._

"Jazz?"

_But I will._

"I'm sorry you got dragged into all this."

He could feel her slow, steady breath against his cheek as he leaned over and slipped his phone into one of the jacket pockets. Letting his eyes fall shut, he leaned closer to her face and gently kissed her lips.

"Get away from her!"

A sharp kick was aimed between Conley's ribs, and the boy fell over with a thud. Wincing, he struggled to sit up when something pressed against his throat.

"Don't even _think_ about moving."

He stared incredulously at the person before him. It was Phantom, alive and kicking- well, he would have been kicking, but it was his foot keeping the other boy pinned. In the ghost's hands sparked a glow of ectoplasm, swelled to the size of a soccer ball. In a flash, Conley had the laser raised.

Their eyes met, and the two were locked in what seemed to be an impossible stalemate. Suddenly, Conley began to chuckle.

"You win," he said, flicking the ON/OFF switch.

The weapon was tossed to the ground and bounced once before coming to a neat stop beyond Phantom. Keeping his eyes on the other boy, the ghost let the ectoplasm die and floated back to pick up the laser.

"That's it? Just like that?" he asked dubiously.

Conley picked himself up and felt his side. It smarted, and would probably be bruised in the morning. Oh well. His own fault for being unaware.

"If you're lucky," he said over his shoulder, "you'll never hear from me again." And he walked away, just like that.

Phantom watched him the whole time. His eyes narrowed. "We'd better not."

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

It was getting colder- there was no doubt about that. Conley wished he had a spare coat somewhere, because right now he was freezing. He felt strangely out of place; without a weapon, he couldn't rightly defend himself, and without his phone, he was cut off from all communication.

He continued to muse all the way to his car- a brand new Nissan Xterra, thoughtfully provided by his employer- and couldn't believe he was getting away with something like this. Granted, something was bound to happen, like it always did, but at the moment, he couldn't care less. As far as he was concerned, he'd done what he needed to do. Phantom wouldn't become a bother to his boss, and no one would have to know that the ghost still existed.

A sudden thought struck him: how had Phantom survived the blast? Well, the Ghost Laser had a "stun" setting on it, and it had probably been switched to that when he shot the ghost. Funny, though, Conley didn't remember turning the weapon to stun...

A chill raced up the teen's back as he realized that he hadn't. That would mean that the force of the blast that hit Phantom was the same as the one that hit-

"Traitor," a voice iced in his ear.

Ice flooded his limbs. He didn't even get a chance to run before all his limbs locked down. He tried to move his arm, but it wouldn't respond; he tried to blink his eyes, but the lids wouldn't budge. His hand tightened into a fist, and he realized that he wasn't the one doing it.

"Well. These are certainly interesting developments."

The boy let off a high laugh, sounding far from human.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Yeah. I know. I got reviews since last chapter. But I don't want to dig through everything, so. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed.

And I'm not going to commit myself to an exact date for the next chapter. It is summer, and I have nothing to do this week. But we all know that I'm prone to procrastination. So. We'll just see.

Thank you to Kuroi Kiri for being my beta. This chapter only went through one extra pair of eyes, so I apologize for whatever mistakes I'm sure abound.


	16. Suspicions

**September 15, 2005:** Hey, y'all. Next chapter. Not as long as I'd hoped, but I had to rush to get it in. Right now, I'm wishing that I could get it in before "The Ultimate Enemy" airs tomorrow, but I'm a bit dubious of that happening. Dangit, I swear, Hartman stole my idea:shakefist:

...actually, I'm a bit surprised he hasn't come up with the "take Phantom out of Danny and pit the two against each other" idea sooner. I mean, the fans are going nuts with that plot. XD

Neee, don't like this chapter as much. Too slow, too short, needs actiony goodness... Phantom's coming up the next chapter, I know, and maybe Conley as well. Because I know y'all love him to bits and bits.

Lessee. Kudos to my many new buds Mel, Ariel, and Olivia for beta'ing real quick. Chapter dedicated to all of them, especially Mel, for putting up with my technological impared-ness. Reviews are at the end of the chapter.

The actual story clocks in at just over 2,000 words, so about six pages...

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Danny in Star City  
Chapter Thirteen: Suspicions

Eliza's feet pounded the sidewalk as she ran fast as she could after Gale.

"Gale! Gale, wait up-"

The older man didn't reply. When he reached the van, he skidded to a halt and ripped the door open. The back of the vehicle had been converted into a mobile computer lab that would have turned the CIA green with envy. Gale flicked a switch, and one of the monitors flickered.

Eliza paused on the edge of the van, sucking in lungfuls of air. Even that short sprint of thirty yards had worn her out. She really, really needed to get in shape one of these days.

"Gale," she panted, "mind telling me what's going on?"

He shook his head. "Be quiet," he said sharply, fingers flying over the keyboard. Several technical-looking graphs flashed across the screen, and one was dragged to the foreground. It looked like a topographical map, and Eliza recognized it to be that of Star City. Various shades of green and blue were sprinkled throughout the map, but one dash of bright orange stood out distinctly. It was over Star Mountain, the largest peak in the region.

"Jereni? Jereni, listen to me," Gale said urgently into a speaker. "There's not much time. I want you to check your graphs for me."

There was a lengthy pause. Eliza heard a soft gasp from the other end of the phone.

"I know. We'll be there in a few minutes."

There was a beep, and Gale looked over.

"Something's come up. We can't look for your brother right now."

"Well, duh," she said quietly as she climbed into the front seat. She looked back towards Star Mountain as they pulled away. The hairs on her neck stood at attention.

That had definitely not been a good sign.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

No one was telling her anything. The minute they got back, Gale and Jereni gathered around a computer and spoke in hushed tones. Eliza tried to look on, but couldn't make heads or tails of what was on the screen. She retreated just outside the hallway, quietly eavesdropping.

"I told you, it's strained. It's not going to hold much longer."

Jereni's voice came in slightly calmer: "The wall's been breached before, Gale. It may still hold."

Hal came by and looked in the room. He saw Eliza peering around the edge and raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on?" he asked.

She gave a very eloquent shrug. "I have absolutely no idea."

He shrugged back and handed her two steaming cups of either very watery coffee, or very strong tea. "Danny's gone up to the roof. I think that the whole meaning of tonight has just hit. I thought it would mean more if you would go up and talk to him, as opposed to an old geezer like me." He gave her a smile. "Don't worry, I'll stay here and try to figure out what the Einsteins over there are up to."

She smiled back, and was halfway down the hall before she turned around. "You knew my dad, right?"

"Back in the day, yes," he said.

"Did he trust you?"

Hal cocked his head to one side, contemplating. "We were friends. I'd like to think that he trusted me."

Eliza nodded. "Alright, then."

She turned and headed up the stairs.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Within minutes of discovering the disappearances of both Gale and Eliza, Jereni had effectively worked herself into a frenzy. She was spouting what-ifs and far-flung scenarios faster than Hal could attempt to calm her. The excess noise and motion did nothing to stop Danny's headache. He mumbled a goodbye, which he doubt either of the adults noticed, and slipped out of the room.

Really, he wondered why he wasn't the one having the full-fledged panic attack. He was certainly entitled to some hysteria. But after the shock had worn off, Danny had retreated behind a veil of apathy. At this point, he didn't feel much of anything.

The civic center wasn't quite empty, even this late at night. Clean-up crews and guards passed Danny as he walked down the hallway; none of them gave him a second glance. It was almost like he was invisible.

He found his way into a stairwell and wandered up three flights of steps. They opened out onto the roof, already damp from the listless rain.

_Out there,_ he thought, walking out slowly, _somewhere, is Jazz, and my parents, and Eliza, and Phantom..._

Danny leaned his weight against the railing, careful of his left arm, and peered over the edge. Even before the accident, he'd never been afraid of heights. In fact, he'd gotten a kick out of testing how high he could fly before everything on the ground looked like a toy set. He'd grown quickly accustomed to moving in three dimensions, and looking over a hundred-foot drop felt like a kick in the shins. He wasn't used to the fear that came from being up high.

He sighed and let his eyes close. There was a wind blowing from the city, and he pretended that, just for a moment, he was flying.

_Bang._

Light spilled out onto the roof, framing a long silhouette. The door banged shut again, and footsteps hesitantly stepped around the growing puddles. Danny didn't even both to turn around. A hand touched his shoulder.

"Hey," Eliza said softly, handing him a cup.

"Where'd you run off to?"

She snorted. "Glad to see you noticed I was gone." Locking one arm around the railing, she swung around casually. She sipped at her drink, and made a face.

"Jereni was worried where you two had gone."

Eliza snorted again. "You mean she was worried about Gale. I'm telling you, man, they totally have a thing for each other."

Danny turned around suddenly, scowling. "Quit stalling! What happened?"

The girl felt her cheeks flush, and stood a little straighter. Very quickly, she outlined the events of the past few minutes, especially the overheard conversation. He was quiet for a long while.

"Did you see Jazz?" he asked finally.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Danny, but wherever she is, we didn't find her."

He turned back to the city, and she felt the urge to slap him.

"Aren't you in the least bit interested about what that flash on the mountain was? Or what Gale and Jereni were talking about?"

"No."

"Not even if it's important?" she pushed. "I mean, Gale totally freaked out, and-"

The look on his face stopped her. "What's wrong?"

He played with the blinds absentmindedly. "I don't trust them," he said after a while. "I- it seems convenient that we get attacked, and they should up five minutes later. They happen to know a doctor who could write an encyclopedia about ectoplasm, but doesn't have a clue about Todd. You and Gale run in with that Conley guy, and Gale actually runs off. Then, they get all worked up over something, and won't say a word." Danny shrugged. "I don't know. I just think something's wrong with this picture."

"Know what I think? I think the lack of sleep is making you paranoid. You sound like Fox Mulder, for Pete's sake."

"So you don't believe me?" There was a sharp edge to his voice.

"That's not what I meant." She blinked. "That's not what I _said_. I just think that you're seeing connections where there aren't any."

"Don't be stupid. Something's up. Something's not right."

He'd begun to pace, and Eliza's head turned with his movements in exasperation.

"Do you have any proof?"

Danny looked at her as though she were crazy. "No," he admitted. "I just _feel_ it."

"So this is all a hunch." He didn't answer, and she sighed. Her tone softened. "Look, I know you're scared. I am, too. But pointing fingers isn't going to change a thing. Once you get some sleep, I'm sure-"

Something snapped and he whirled on her, letting his cup drop to the ground. "Why do you even trust them?" he demanded, inches from her face.

Her expression was startled and hurt, and Danny almost backed down. The hurt changed into a glare, and she leaned in closer.

"Because right now," she said, clearly enunciating each word, "they're the only hope my brother has got."

"You don't know that for sure. That's only what they said."

"Danny, listen to what you're saying. It's insane! It's stupid! It's just downright _dumb!"_

"You want dumb? _You're_ the one being naïve and believing every word they say!"

"Since when did Gale and Jereni become a 'they'? You believed them, too." She shook her head. "I swear, Danny, you are so full of yourself."

It hadn't been a very good insult, and Eliza knew it. She'd never been good with coming up with them on the spot. Still glaring, she mustered for another one.

"I'm going back down there," she announced, "and actually try to help get something done. You know, instead of acting all emo about it."

Eliza smiled triumphantly as she sauntered back towards the stairs. It had been a much better comeback the second time around. She glanced back before stopping.

What if- and this was a very big if, mind you- Danny was right? What if it _was_ naïve to continue trusting these people? They hadn't had a choice earlier, but now that the immediate crisis was over, they could...

They could what? Take Todd and run? An overweight girl, her comatose brother, and a boy with a broken arm weren't going to get very far.

Danny looked back at her sorely, and she sighed.

"We can't just _leave_," she said. "Where would we go?"

"I don't know," he said quietly. "I just can't stay here anymore, doing nothing. Not when I know he's out there."

_It must be driving him crazy, _she thought suddenly, _not knowing how all this'll play out._

Eliza couldn't bring herself to be mad at Danny. She knew exactly how he felt.

"What was he like?" she asked, coming closer.

He shrugged, letting his weight settle on the railing. "He was me, but he wasn't. He came with my powers, but was there the whole time. I can't describe it. You wouldn't understand."

Eliza wanted to point out that he probably didn't either, but bit her tongue.

"If he's part of you," she said slowly, "it stands to reason that you two'd have a connection or something. What if you tried to call him or something?"

"What makes you think I haven't tried?" A hand went up to the back of his head. "It feels like someone punched a hole right here. And..." The hand dropped. "It's pointless."

"No, it's not," she insisted. "Maybe you haven't tried hard enough."

"Eliza-"

"Humor me."

The boy glanced at her wearily. "Fine. Whatever. If you think it'll help. But I don't know what to do."

She offered him a wry smile, then hesitantly slid up beside him. "If it means anything, neither do I."

He nodded and smiled back before closing his eyes.

"Phantom," he said, "Phantom. Can you hear me?"

He imagined a thin line stretched out between his body and his other half. If he could only find that line, then he would give it a sharp tug and Phantom would hear, and they would be reunited, and life would be normal again...

_Phantom_, and then louder, a mental scream, _you've got to come back. Please, find me. Come back._

Nothing. And then...

Had he really felt that chill? He waited, tense, for a moment before opening his eyes. The world looked the same as it had before. His skin was no less feverish. His thoughts still echoed, empty, around his head.

Eliza was watching him, expectant. "Well?" she asked.

Danny pushed away from the railing angrily. It wasn't fair, he thought, for him to have to go through all this, and for her to stand there like that-

"Well what?" he practically snarled, shoving her out of the way as he stomped over to the stairwell.

Unperturbed, she jogged after him. "Nothing?"

He stopped suddenly, letting her run smack into him. "What do you _think?"_

There was a heavy slam, and he disappeared down the stairs.

"Nothing?" she repeated. "But- there must have been- something." Eliza stood there for a while, feeling hurt in general, and looked back towards the city.

"It always works out in the stories," she said sadly, following down the stairs.

Neither teenager knew just how far Danny's plea had reached.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

**Silver Latias: **Yeah, I know I went AWOL for a while, but glad to see you're still here. Cliffhangers are good, except when I forget what I'm supposed to be writing. XD

**Axion-Pup: **You crazy? I need all the help I can get. I can't wait for the next part, either.

**Straying Life: **Can't say I remember you right off, but freaky how people find each other, isn't it? Did you review the story earlier? Don't remember your screenname popping up.

**Lateraina Wolf: **Glad that you caught the hints, but let me say loud and clear: neither Sam nor Eliza will hook up with Danny in DSC. :coughs: Of course, I didn't say anything about the sequel, but. Not in DSC. Danny ain't go no one to love! Awwww.

**G.I.R.'s shadow: **You? Sane? Perish the very thought! And thank you for the kind review. (And do you think I could have some of that chocolate pudding?)

Sigh. I haven't started writing the next chapter yet, though I know where I want to go. I've got other things on my writing plate at the moment, but I'm not going to forget DSC again. So, just be patient, and look through some other fics at the moment. I'm sure y'all can find something out there. ;)

**BIG IMPORTANT NOTE OF IMPORTANCE: **This will shortly be up on my LiveJournal and deviantART account. Feel free to drop a line here or there. It's easier for me to communicate with my readers through those sites.


End file.
